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THE 


WOMAN'S  PART 

Jl  Record  of  Munitions  Work 

UC-NRLF 

B  M  S7^  lae  ^-   ^'  YATES 


NEW    YORK 

GEORGE    H.    DORAN    COMPANY 

Publishers  in  America  for  Hodder  &Stoughton 


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Tin-:  MANrFAr'ITKK   (»1'    1  .VT\('ll   C  A  IM'UI  DC  H  C 
OPEHATINC;  THE  DHAWING  I'KESS 


THE 

WOMAN'S  PART 

A  Record  of  Munitions  fVork 


BY 

L.  K.  YATES 


NEW  YORK 
GEORGE  H.  DORAN  COMPANY 


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CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.     The  Advent  of  Women  in  Engineering  Trades  ...  7 

SHARING  A  COMMON  TASK 9 

DILUTION II 

HEROISM  IN  THE  WORKSHOP 12 

II.     Training  the  Munition  Worker 14 

THE  QUINTESSENCE  OF  THE  WORK 1 5 

THE  INSTRUCTIONAL  FACTORY 1 7 

FIRST  STEPS  IN  INDUSTRIAL  LIFE 1 8 

III.  At  Work— I ,20 

SHELLS  AND  SHELL  CASES 21 

IN  THE  FUSE-SHOP           .          . 23 

CARTRIDGES  AND  BULLETS 25 

IV.  At  Work— II 28 

THE  MAKING  OF  AIRCRAFT 28 

OPTICAL  INSTRUMENTS 30 

IN  THE  SHIPYARDS 33 

V.     Comfort  and  Safety 37 

WELFARE  SUPERVISION 37 

PROTECTIVE  CLOTHING 4I 

REST-ROOMS  AND  FIRST  AID 42 

WOMEN  POLICE .  43 

VI.     Outside  Welfare 45 

RECREATION 4^ 

MOTHERHOOD 47 

THE  FACTORY  NURSERY 48 

VII.     Growth  of  the  Industrial  Canteen 52 

GENERAL  PRINCIPLES    .          .          .          .       ^ 54 

THE  worker's  OASIS 55 

VIII.     Housing 57 

BILLETING 58 

TEMPORARY  ACCOMMODATION 59 

PERMANENT  ACCOMMODATION 61 

iii 


383211 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

The  Manufacture  of  4. 5-inch  Cartridge  Cases:  Operating  the 

Drawing  Press Frontispiece 

PAGE 

Turning  the  Copper  Band  of  a  9. 2-inch  High-explosive  Shell  .  16 

Drilling  Safety-pin  Hole  in  Fuse 16 

Inspecting  and  Gauging  Fuses 17 

Turning  the  Outside  and  Forming  the  Nose-end  of  a  9.2-iNCH 

High-explosive  Shell 17 

Assembling  Fuses 20 

Cooling  Shell  Forgings 20 

Operating  a  Lumsden  Plain  Grinder:  Re-forming  8-inch  High- 
explosive  Cutters 21 

Engraving  Metal  Parts  for  Compasses 28 

Colouring  Aeroplane  Planes 28 

Chipping  and  Grinding  Blades  of  Cast  Iron  Propeller  with 

Portable  Tools 29 

Woman  Acting  as  Mate  to  Joiner  Making  Sea-plane  Floats      ,  29 

Cutting  Frayed-edge  Tape 36 

Brazing  Turbine  Rotor  Segment 36 

Mounting  CAP^.Ds  for  Dry  Compasses 37 

Treadle  Polishing-machines,  for  Smoothing  Lenses      ...  37 

Slitting  and  Roughing  Optical  Glass 44 

View  of  Canteen  Kitchen 44 

Weighing  Ferro  Chrome  for  Analysis 45 

Balsaming  Lenses 52 

Making  Instrument  Scales 53 

Painting  a  Ship's  Side  in  Dry  Dock 60 

General  View  of  Women  at  Work  on  Aircraft  Fabric      .       .  61 

The  Canteen 61 

v 


THE  WOMAN'S  PART 


CHAPTER  I:  THE  ADVENT  OF  WOMEN  IN  ENGINEERING 

TRADES 

SHARING  A  COMMON  TASK— DILUTION— HEROISM  IN  THE  WORKSHOP 

IN  a  period  of  titanic  events  it  is  difficult  to  characterize  a  single  group 
of  happenings  as  of  special  significance,  yet  at  the  end  of  the  war  it 
is  likely  that  Great  Britain  will  look  back  to  the  transformation  of 
her  home  industries  for  war  purposes  as  one  of  the  greatest  feats  she  has 
ever  accomplished.  The  arousing  of  a  nation  to  fight  to  the  death  for  the 
principle  of  Liberty  is  doubtless  one  of  the  most  stirring  of  spectacles  in 
the  human  drama;  it  has  repeated  itself  throughout  history;  but  it  has 
been  left  to  this  century  to  witness  in  the  midst  of  such  an  upheaval  the 
complete  reorganization  of  a  nation's  industry,  built  up  slowly  and  pain- 
fully by  a  modern  civilization  for  its  material  support  and  utility. 

Before  the  outbreak  of  hostilities  Great  Britain  was  supplying  the 
world  with  the  products  of  her  workshops,  but  these  products  were  mainly 
those  needed  by  nations  at  peace.  The  coal  mines  of  Northumberland, 
the  foundries  of  the  Midlands,  the  cotton  mills  of  Lancashire  were  aiding 
vast  populations  in  their  daily  human  struggle,  but  the  demand  of  19 14 
for  vast  requirements  for  war  purposes  found  Great  Britain  unprepared. 
The  instantaneous  rearrangement  of  industries  for  war  purposes,  possible 
to  Germany  by  reason  of  forty  years  of  stealthy  war  preparations,  was  out 
of  the  question  for  a  nation  that  neither  contemplated  nor  prepared  for 
a  European  conflagration.  Eight  or  nine  months  had  to  elapse  before  the 
people  of  Great  Britain  were  aroused  to  the  realities  of  modern  warfare. 

It  was  then  only  that  a  large  public  became  aware  that  the  Herculean 
struggle  was  not  merely  a  conflict  between  armies  and  navies,  but  between 
British  science  and  German  science,  between  British  chemists  and  German 
chemists,  between  British  workshops  and  the  workshops  of  Germany. 
The  realization  of  these  facts  led  to  the  creation  of  the  Ministry  of  Muni- 
tions in  May  191 5  and  the  rapid  rearrangement  of  industries  and  indus- 
trial conditions.     Before  the  war,  three  National  factories  in  Great  Britain 

7 


8  THE  WOMAN'S  PART 

were  sufficient  to  fulfil  the  demand  for  output  for  possible  war  purposes; 
to-day,  there  are  more  than  150  National  factories  and  over  5,000 
Controlled  Establishments,  scattered  up  and  down  the  country,  all  pro- 
ducing munitions  of  war.  The  whole  of  the  North  Country  and  the 
whole  of  the  Midlands  have,  in  fact,  become  a  vast  arsenal. 

Standing  on  an  eminence  in  the  North,  one  may  by  day  watch  ascend- 
ing the  smoke  of  from  400  to  500  munition  factories,  and  by  night  at  many 
a  point  in  the  Midland  counties  one  may  survey  an  encircling  zone  of 
flames  as  they  belch  forth  from  the  chimneys  of  the  engineering  works 
of  war.  The  vast  majority  of  these  workshops  had  previously  to  the  war 
never  produced  a  gun,  a  shell,  or  a  cartridge.  To-day,  makers  of  agricul- 
tural and  textile  machinery  are  engaged  on  munitions,  producers  of  lead 
pencils  are  turning  out  shrapnel;  a  manufacturer  of  gramophones  is  pro- 
ducing fuses;  a  court  jeweller  is  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  optical 
instruments;  a  maker  of  cream  separators  has  now  an  output  of  primers. 
Nor  is  this  all.  New  industries  have  been  started  and  languishing  trades 
have  been  revived. 

The  work  of  reorganization  has  been  prodigious,  and  when  the  history 
of  Britain's  share  in  the  war  comes  to  be  written  in  the  leisured  days 
of  peace,  it  Is  unlikely  that  the  record  will  transmit  to  a  future  generation 
how  much  effort  it  has  taken  to  produce  the  preponderance  in  munitions 
now  achieved.  With  the  huge  task  of  securing  an  adequate  supply  of 
raw  material  has  gone  hand  in  hand  the  production  of  a  sufficiency  of 
suitable  machinery  and  machine  tools,  the  equipment  of  laboratories  for 
chemical  research,  the  erection,  or  adaptation,  of  accommodation  In  which 
to  house  the  new  *plant\  and  the  supply  of  a  continuous  stream  of  suit- 
able labour.  In  face  of  the  growing  needs  of  the  Navy  and  Army  this 
labour  question  has  been  a  crucial  test;  It  is  a  testimony  to  the  'will 
to  win'  of  the  whole  people  that  the  problem  from  the  outset  has  found 
Its  solution.  As  soon  as  the  importance  of  the  demand  for  munitions 
workers  was  widely  understood,  a  supply  of  labour  has  continuously 
streamed  into  the  factory  gates.  There  are  now  2,000,000  persons  em- 
ployed In  munitions  industries — exclusive  of  Admiralty  work — of  which 
one-third  are  women. 

The  advent  of  the  women  In  the  engineering  shops  and  their  success 
m  a  group  of  fresh  trades  may  be  accounted  as  an  omen  of  deep  significance. 
Women  in  this  country  have,  it  is  true,  taken  their  place  in  factory  life 
from  the  moment  that  machinery  swept  away  the  spinning-wheel  from 
the  domestic  hearth,  and  it  Is  more  often  the  woman  mill-hand,  or  factory 
'lass',  who  is  the  wealthier  partner  in  many  a  Lancashire  home.  Women 
before  the  war,  to  be  sure,  took  part  in  factory  life  where  such  com- 


THE  WOMAN'S  PART  9 

modltles  as  textiles,  clothing,  food,  household  goods,  &c.,  were  produced, 
but  by  consensus  of  opinion — feminine  as  well  as  masculine — her  presence 
in  Engineering  Works,  save  on  mere  routine  work,  or  on  a  few  delicate 
processes,  was  considered  in  the  pre-war  period  as  unsuitable  and  un- 
desirable. 

Sharing  a  Common  Task 

At  the  outbreak  of  hostilities,  a  few  of  the  most  far-sighted  employers, 
contemplating  a  shortage  of  labour  through  the  recruitment  of  men  for 
military  service,  hazarded  the  opinion  that  women  might  be  employed 
on  all  kinds  of  simple  repetition  work  in  the  Engineering  Shops.  Further 
than  that  even  the  optimist  did  not  go.  [There  was  also  no  indication 
that  women  would  be  willing  to  adventure  into  a  world  where  long  hours 
and  night-work  prevailed,  from  which  evils  they  were  protected  in  the 
days  of  peace  by  stringent  Factory  Acts,  t  Events  have  proved  that  the 
women  of  Great  Britain  are  aT  ready  as  their  menfolk  to  sacrifice  comfort 
and  personal  convenience  to  the  demands  of  a  great  cause,  and  as  soon 
as  it  was  made  known  that  their  services  were  required,  they  came  forward 
in  their  hundreds  of  thousands. 

They  have  come  from  the  office  and  the  shop,  from  domestic  service 
and  the  dressmaker's  room,  from  the  High  Schools  and  the  Colleges,  and 
from  the  quietude  of  the  stately  homes  of  the  leisured  rich.  They  have 
travelled  from  far-off  corners  in  the  United  Kingdom  as  well  as  from 
homesteads  in  Australia  and  New  Zealand,  and  from  lonely  farms  in 
South  Africa  and  Canada.  Every  stratum  of  society  has  provided  its  share 
of  willing  women  workers  eager  from  one  cause  or  another  to  'do  their  bit . 

Even  in  the  early  days  of  the  advent  of  women  in  the  munitions  shops, 
I  have  seen  working  together,  side  by  side,  the  daughter  of  an  earl,  a  shop- 
keeper's widow,  a  graduate  from  Girton,  a  domestic  servant  and  a  young 
woman  from  a  lonely  farm  in  Rhodesia,  whose  husband  had  joined  the 
colours.  Social  status,  so  stiff  a  barrier  in  this  country  in  pre-war  days, 
was  forgotten  in  the  factory,  as  in  the  trenches,  and  they  were  all  working 
together  as  happily  as  the  members  of  a  united  family. 

Employers  and  former  employees  likewise  often  share  a  common  task 
In  the  workshops  of  the  war.  At  Woolwich,  for  example,  a  lady  of  delicate 
upbringing  could,  at  one  period,  have  been  seen  arriving  at  the  Arsenal 
in  the  early  hours  of  each  morning,  accompanied  by  her  former  maid, 
both  being  the  while  'hands'  in  the  employ  of  the  State.  It  is  well 
known  in  certain  circles  how  Lady  Scott,  the  widow  of  the  famous  Antarc- 
tic explorer,  put  aside  all  private  interests  to  take  up  work  in  a  munitions 
factory,   how   Lady  Gertrude   Crawford  became   an   official,   supervising 


iO  THE  WOMAN'S  PART 

women's  work  in  shipyards,  and  how  Lady  Mary  Hamilton  (now  Mrs. 
Kenyon  Slaney) ,  the  eldest  daughter  of  the  Duke  of  Abercorn,  and  Miss 
Stella  Drummond,  daughter  of  General  Drummond,  have  won  distinction 
as  workers  in  'advanced'  processes  of  munitions  production. 

These  are  but  a  few  distinguished  names  amongst  a  crowd  of  women 
of  all  degrees  of  society  who  have  achieved  unexpected  success  in  work 
to  which  they  were  entirely  unaccustomed.  Amongst  this  nameless  mul- 
titude, attention  has  been  called  from  time  to  time  to  the  remarkable 
feats  in  the  engineering  and  chemical  trades,  in  electrical  works,  and 
in  the  shipyards,  of  kitchen-maids  and  of  dressmakers,  of  governesses  and 
children's  nurses. 

The  underlying  motives,  all  actuated  by  war  conditions,  which  have 
turned  the  tide  of  women's  work  into  new  and  unfamiliar  occupations, 
are,  however,  more  diverse  than  is  generally  supposed.  Unquestionably, 
the  two  main  driving  forces  have  been  patriotism  and  economic  pressure, 
and  of  these  patriotism,  the  love  of  country,  the  pride  of  Empire,  accounts 
for  a  large  proportion  of  women  recruits.  Yet  there  are  other  motives 
at  work:  the  old  human  forces  of  family  love  and  self-sacrifice,  pride, 
anger,  hatred,  and  even  humour.  I  have  questioned  workers  at  the  lathes 
and  in  doping  rooms,  in  Filling  Factories,  and  in  wood-workers'  shops, 
and  find  the  mass  of  new  labour  in  the  munitions  works  is  there  from 
distinctive  individual  reasons.  It  is  only  by  the  recognition  of  all  these 
forces  that  successful  management  of  a  new  factor  in  the  labour  problem 
is  possible.  An  indication  of  the  life-history  of  one  or  two  individual 
munitions  workers  may  exemplify  the  point. 

There  is  the  case  of  a  girl  tool-setter  in  a  factory  near  London.  She  is 
the  only  child  of  an  old  Army  family.  When  war  broke  out,  she  realized 
that  for  the  first  time  in  many  generations  her  family  could  send  no  repre- 
sentative to  fight  the  country's  battles.  Her  father  was  an  old  man, 
long  past  military  age.  The  girl,  although  in  much  request  at  home, 
took  up  work  in  a  base  hospital  in  France,  but  at  the  end  of  a  year,  when 
broken  down  from  over-strain,  was  ordered  six  months'  rest  in  England. 
Recovery  followed  in  two  months,  and  again,  spurred  by  the  thought 
of  inaction  in  a  time  of  national  peril,  she  entered  a  munitions  factory 
as  an  ordinary  employee.  After  nine  months'  work  she  had  only  lost  five 
minutes'  time. 

Another  factory  worker  is  a  mother  of  seven  sons,  proud-spirited, 
efficient,  and  accustomed  to  rule  her  family.  The  seven  sons  enlisted  and 
she  felt  her  claim  to  headship  was  endangered.  She  entered  a  munitions 
factory  and,  to  soothe  her  pride,  sent  weekly  to  each  son  a  detailed  account 
of  her  industrial  work.   At  length,  the  eldest  son  wrote  that  he  thought  his 


THE  WOMAN'S  PART  11 

mother  was  probably  killing  more  Germans  than  any  of  the  family.  Since 
then,  she  says,  she  has  had  peace  of  mind. 

In  another  factory,  in  the  West  of  England,  there  is  an  arduous  muni- 
tions maker  who  works  tirelessly  through  the  longest  shifts.  Before  her 
entry  into  the  industrial  world  she  was  a  stewardess  on  a  passenger-ship. 
The  vessel  was  torpedoed  by  a  German  submarine,  and  she  was  one  of  the 
few  survivors.  Daily  she  works  off  her  hatred  on  a  capstan  lathe,  hoping, 
as  she  tells  the  visitors,  some  day  to  get  equal  with  the  unspeakable  Huns. 

Then  there  is  a  typical  case  of  a  wife  who  has  learned  some  of  life's 
little  ironies  through  her  work  on  munitions  production.  Her  husband, 
an  old  sailor,  worked  for  the  same  firm  before  the  war.  He  used  to  come 
home  daily  and  complain  of  the  hardness  of  his  lot.  It  was  'a  dog's  life',  he 
constantly  reiterated,  and  his  wife  was  careful  to  make  reparation  at  home. 

War  broke  out  and  the  naval  reserve  man  was  recalled  to  sea.  The 
firm  were  put  to  it,  in  the  labour  shortage,  for  a  substitute,  and  Invited  the 
wife's  aid.  Having  heard  so  much  of  the  hardships  of  the  work,  she  re- 
fused, but  after  some  persuasion  agreed  to  give  the  job  a  trial.  At  the  end 
of  a  week,  she  surmised  the  task  was  not  so  hard  as  she  contemplated;  after 
a  month  had  passed  she  realized  the  position.  The  job  had  been  a  capital 
excuse  to  ensure  forgiveness  for  domestic  short-comings.  The  wife  awaits 
her  husband's  return  with  a  certain  grim  humour. 

Having  arrived  in  the  engineering  trades,  actuated  by  whatever  mo- 
tives, the  woman  munitions  maker  has  more  than  justified  the  hopes  of 
the  pioneer  employers  who  sponsored  her  cause.  As  soon  as  organized 
labour  agreed  that  trade  union  rules  and  pre-war  shop  practice  should  be 
suspended  for  the  duration  of  the  war,  women  were  rapidly  initiated  in 
the  simple  repetition  processes  of  shell-making  and  shell-filling.  Machin- 
ery was  adapted  to  the  new-comers,  and  the  skilled  men  workers  were 
distributed  amongst  the  factories  to  undertake  the  jobs  possible  only  to 
experienced  hands. 

Dilution 

Thus,  the  principle  of  dilution,  as  old  as  Plato's  Republic,  which  as 
a  theory  was  reintroduced  to  British  students  by  Adam  Smith,  has  widely 
come  into  practice  through  the  urgency  of  the  war.  Women  have  been 
successfully  introduced  into  a  new  group  of  occupations,  men  have  been 
'upgraded',  so  that  many  semi-skilled  men  have  become  skilled;  and  the 
skilled  men  have  been  allocated  entirely  to  employment  on  skilled  jobs. 

Once  introduced  to  the  munitions  shops,  women  soon  mastered  the 
repetition  processes,  such  as  'turning',  'milling'  and  'grinding',  as  well 
as    the    simpler    operations    connected    with    shell-filling.      The    keenest 


12  THE  WOMAN'S  PART 

amongst  them  were  then  found  fit  for  more  'advanced'  work  where 
accuracy,  a  nice  judgment,  and  deftness  of  manipulation  are  essential. 
Such  are  the  processes  connected  with  tool  and  gauge-making,  where  the 
work  must  be  finished  to  within  the  finest  limits — a  fraction  of  the  width  of 
a  human  hair;  such  are  the  requirements  for  the  work  of  overlooking, 
or  inspection  of  output;  and  such  are  the  many  processes  of  aeroplane 
manufacture  and  optical  glass  production,  upon  which  women  are  being 
increasingly  employed. 

They  are  also  undertaking  operations  dependent  on  physical  strength, 
which  in  pre-war  days  would  have  been  regarded  as  wholly  unsuitable 
to  female  capacity.  War  necessity  has,  however,  killed  old-time  prejudice 
and  has  proved  how  readily  women  adapt  themselves  to  any  task  within 
their  physical  powers.  One  may,  for  example,  to-day  watch  women  In  the 
shipyards  of  the  North  hard  at  work,  chipping  and  cleaning  the  ships' 
decks,  repairing  hulls,  or  laying  electric  wire  on  board  H.M.  battleships. 
High  up  in  the  gantry  cranes  which  move  majestically  across  the  vaulted 
factory  roof,  one  may  see  women  sitting  aloft  guiding  the  movement  of  the 
huge  molten  ingots;  in  the  foundries,  one  may  run  across  a  woman  smith; 
in  the  aeroplane  factories,  women  welders  work  be-goggled  at  the  anvils. 

An  engineering  shop  is  now  sometimes  staffed  almost  entirely  by  women 
'hands',  and  it  is  no  uncommon  sight  to  find  in  the  centre  of  the  shop 
women  operators  at  work  on  the  machines;  at  one  end  a  group  of  women 
tool-setters,  and  at  another  women  gaugers  who  test  the  products  of  this 
combined  women's  labour.  In  the  packing-rooms  the  lustier  types  of 
women  may  be  seen  dispatching  finished  shells,  and  on  the  factory  platforms 
gartered  women  In  tunic  suits  push  the  loaded  trollies  to  waiting  railway- 
trucks  for  conveyance  to  the  front.  One  of  the  most  surprising  revelations 
of  the  war  in  this  country  has,  indeed,  been  the  capacity  of  women  for 
engineering  work,  and  to  none  has  the  discovery  been  more  surprising 
and  more  exhilarating  than  to  the  women  themselves. 

Heroism  in  the  JVorkshop 

The  work  has,  In  fact^calledjor  personal  qualities  usually  thought  to 
be  abnormal  in  women.  The  women  In  the  engineering  shops  have 
disproved  any  such  surmise.  Where  occasion  has  demanded  physical 
courage  from  the  workers,  the  virtue  has  leaped  forth  from  the  average 
woman,  as  from  the  average  man.  Where  circumstances  call  for  grit  and 
endurance,  there  has  been  no  shirking  in  the  factories  by  the  majority  of 
the  operators  of  either  sex.  The  heroism  of  the  battlefields  has  frequently 
been  equalled  by  the  ordinary  civilian  in  the  factory,  whether  man  or 
woman.     Sometimes  incidents  of  women's  courage  in  the  works  have  been 


THE  WOMAN'S  PART  13 

reported  in  the  press  as  matters  for  surprise.  They  are  merely  typical 
instances  of  the  spirit  that  animates  the  general  mass  of  the  workers  in 
Great  Britain. 

A  few  examples  may  be  added  in  illustration.  On  a  recent  occasion, 
a  woman  lost  the  first  finger  and  thumb  of  her  left  hand  through  the 
jamming  of  a  piece  of  metal  in  a  press.  After  an  absence  of  six  weeks,  she 
returned  to  work  and  was  soon  getting  an  even  greater  output  than  before. 

Another  instance  relates  to  a  serious  accident  in  an  explosives  factory, 
when  several  women  were  killed  and  many  were  injured.  Within  a  few  days 
a  considerable  number  of  the  remaining  female  operators  applied  and  were 
accepted  for  positions  in  the  Danger  Zone  at  another  factory.  Another 
incident  is  reported  from  some  chemical  works  in  the  North.  The  key 
controlling  a  valve  fell  off  and  dropped  into  a  pit  below,  rendering  the 
woman  in  charge  unable  to  control  the  steam.  An  accident  seemed 
imminent  and  the  woman,  in  spite  of  the  likelihood  of  dangerous  results 
to  herself,  got  down  to  the  pit,  regained  the  key  and  averted  disaster. 

In  a  shipyard  on  the  North-East  coast,  a  woman  of  23  years  had  been 
engaged  for  some  time  in  electric-wiring  a  large  battleship.  One  day,  when 
working  overhead,  a  drill  came  through  from  the  deck,  piercing  her  cotton 
cap  and  entering  her  head.  She  was  attended  to  in  the  firm's  First  Aid 
room  and  sent  home.  To  the  surprise  of  every  one  concerned,  she  re- 
turned to  work  at  6  a.m.  on  the  following  day,  and  laughingly  remarked  that 
she  was  quite  satisfied  that  it  was  better  to  lose  a  little  hair  than  her  head. 

In  the  trivial  accidents  which  are,  of  course,  of  more  frequent  occur- 
rence, the  women  display  similar  calmness  and  will  stand  unflinchingly 
while  particles  of  grit,  or  metal,  are  removed  from  the  eyes,  or  while  small 
wounds — often  due  to  their  own  carelessness — are  dressed  and  bound. 
The  endurance  displayed  during  the  early  period  of  munitions  production, 
when  holidays  were  voluntarily  abandoned  and  work  continued  through 
Sundays,  and  in  many  hours  of  overtime,  was  no  less  remarkable  in  the 
women  than  in  the  men.  Action  is  continuously  taken  by  the  Ministry 
of  Munitions  to  reduce  the  hours  of  overtime,  to  abolish  Sunday  labour, 
and  to  promote  the  well-being  of  the  workers,  but  without  the  zeal  and 
courage  of  the  women  munitions  makers  the  valour  of  the  soldiers  at  the 
Front  would  often  be  in  vain. 

As  the  Premier  remarked  in  a  recent  speech :  'I  do  not  know  what  would 
have  happened  to  this  land  when  the  men  had  to  go  away  fighting  if  the 
women  had  not  come  forward  and  done  their  share  of  the  work.  It 
would  have  been  utterly  impossible  for  us  to  have  waged  a  successful 
war,  had  it  not  been  for  the  skill  and  ardour,  enthusiasm  and  industry, 
which  the  women  of  the  country  have  thrown  into  the  work  of  the  war'. 


CHAPTER  II:    TRAINING  THE  MUNITION  WORKER 

THE  QUINTESSENCE  OF  THE  WORK— THE  INSTRUCTIONAL  FACTORY— FIRST 

STEPS  IN  INDUSTRIAL  LIFE 

WHEN,  in  answer  to  the  demand  for  shells  and  more  shells,  fac- 
tories were  built,  or  adapted  to  the  requirements  of  war,  it  was 
soon  found  that  a  supply  of  suitable  labour  must  be  ensured,  if 
the  maximum  output  was  to  be  maintained.  The  existing  practice  of  the 
engineering  shops,  by  which  a  boy  arrived  by  gradual  steps,  counted  in 
years,  from  apprenticeship  to  the  work  of  a  skilled  operator,  was  obviously 
impossible  where  an  immediate  demand  for  thousands  of  employees  of 
varying  efficiency  had  to  be  fulfilled.  The  needs  of  the  Navy  and  Army 
further  complicated  the  problem  by  the  withdrawal  of  men  of  all  degrees 
of  skill  from  factory  to  battlefield. 

The  discovery  of  an  untapped  reservoir  of  labour  in  Avomen's  work, 
and  the  adaptation  of  a  larger  proportion  of  machines  to  a  'fool-proof 
standard,  certainly  eased  the  situation,  yet  the  problem  remained  of  the 
immediate  provision  of  workers  able  to  undertake  'advanced',  as  well 
as  simple  work,  in  the  engineering  shops.  Factory  employers  were  from 
the  outset  alive  to  the  situation,  and  at  once  adopted  measures  for  the 
training  of  new-comers  within  their  shops,  but  harassed  as  the  managers 
were  by  the  supreme  need  for  output,  it  was  hardly  possible  to  develop 
extensive  schemes  for  training  within  the  factory  gates.  Hence,  arose 
a  movement  throughout  the  United  Kingdom  among  the  governing 
bodies  of  many  institutions  of  University  rank,  among  Local  Education 
Authorities,  and  among  various  feminist  groups,  to  make  use  of  existing 
Technical  Schools  and  Institutions  for  the  training  of  recruits  in  engineer- 
ing work. 

The  effort  was  at  first  mainly  confined  to  the  instruction  of  men  in 
elementary  machine  work,  and  the  London  County  Council  may  fairly 
claim  to  have  acted  as  pioneer  in  this  connexion.  Yet,  as  early  as  August 
19155  ^  group  of  women  connected  with  the  National  Union  of  Women's 
Suffrage  Societies  (of  which  Mrs.  Fawcett,  widow  of  a  former  Postmaster- 
General,  is  the  president)    decided  to  finance  a  scheme  for  the  training 

H 


THE  WOMAN'S  PART  15 

of  women  oxy-acetylene  welders,  converting  for  this  purpose  a  small  work- 
shop run  by  a  woman  silversmith. 

It  was  soon  observed  by  the  Ministry  of  Munitions  that  these  sporadic 
efforts — sometimes  successful  beyond  expectation,  and  sometimes  failing 
for  want  of  funds,  or  for  lack  of  Intimacy  between  training-ground  and 
factory  employer — must  be  co-ordinated,  If  they  were  to  tackle  success- 
fully the  growing  task  imposed  by  war  conditions.  The  conception  of  a 
Training  Section  for  factory  workers  within  the  Ministry  of  Munitions 
arose,  took  root.    The  section  was  established  in  the  early  autumn  of  1915. 

In  the  October  of  that  year,  authority  to  finance  approved  training 
schemes  throughout  the  country  was  given  to  the  new  department. 
Some  fifty  colleges  and  schools,  undertaking  independent  schemes,  were 
then  brought  into  touch  with  the  Ministry,  and  steps  were  taken  to  develop 
the  existing  systems.  Equipment  was  thereby  Improved,  recruiting  of 
students  stimulated,  and  a  scheme  for  the  payment  of  maintenance  during 
training — such  as  the  Manhattan  Schools  In  New  York  had  previously  in- 
troduced to  social  Investigators  In  this  country — was  established.  The 
extension  of  the  courses  of  training  from  Instruction  in  simple  processes 
to  such  advanced  engineering  work  as  lead-burning,  tool-setting,  and  gauge- 
making  soon  followed,  and  was  accompanied  by  necessary  theoretical  in- 
struction in  the  methods  of  calculation  of  fine  measurements. 

The  Quintessence  of  the  JVork 

For  these  advanced  classes,  men  alone  were  at  first  eligible  as  students, 
women  being  only  Instructed  at  the  outset  in  elementary  parts  of  the 
work.  In  the  early  days,  the  women  were  invited  *to  do  their  bit',  by 
learning  how  to  bore,  how  to  drill,  how  to  plane,  how  to  shape,  and  above 
all,  how  to  work  to  size.  The  chief  battle  of  the  Training  Centre  with 
regard  to  the  Instruction  of  women  was  then,  and  still  remains,  the  implant- 
ing of  a  feeling  for  exactitude  In  persons  accustomed  to  measure  ribbons 
or  lace  within  a  margin  of  a  quarter  of  a  yard  or  so,  or  to  prepare  food  by 
a  guess-work  mixture  of  ingredients.  I  remember,  at  the  beginning  of 
a  course  of  training  for  women,  how  an  instructor  at  a  large  metropolitan 
Centre  remarked  that  'ninety-nine  per  cent,  of  the  new  students  do  not 
know  what  accuracy  means',  and  he  detailed  how  difficult  it  was  to  Instil 
into  their  mind  'that  quintessence  of  their  work'. 

Scientific  methods  of  tuition,  helped  no  doubt  by  women's  proverbial 
patience,  have,  however,  enabled  the  lesson  to  be  learned  after  a  few 
weeks'  Intensive  training.  The  courses  last  but  six  to  eight  weeks  and, 
at  the  conclusion  of  the  carefully  graduated  tasks,  it  Is  not  too  much  to 


16  THE  WOMAN'S  PART 

say  that  the  success  of  the  women  has  been,  in  an  overwhelming  number 
of  cases,  surprising  both  to  teachers  and  pupils. 

I  have  before  me  a  batch  of  letters  from  factory  employers,  written 
in  the  early  period  of  the  training  schemes.  They  all  bear  testimony  to 
the  value  of  the  outside  instruction.  One  manager  notes  how  the  trained 
women  from  the  Schools  were  able  'to  become  producers  almost  at  once'; 
another  states  that  the  drafting  of  the  women  students  from  School  to 
factory  has  enabled  the  work  of  munitions  to  be  carried  on  'with  greater 
expedition  than  would  otherwise  have  been  the  case',  and  yet  another, 
with  a  scarcely  concealed  note  of  astonishment,  relates  that  his  students 
were  able  to  be  engaged  at  once  on  'all  kinds  of  machinery,  capstan  lathes, 
turning  lathes,  milling  and  wheel  cutting  machinery'. 

This  discovery  of  the  employer,  of  the  potentialities  of  women's  work 
in  the  engineering  trades,  soon  led  to  a  development  of  the  instruction 
of  female  students  in  the  Training  Centres;  more  advanced  machine 
work  was  added  to  the  curriculum,  as  well  as  tuition  in  aeroplane  wood- 
work and  construction,  in  core-making  and  moulding,  in  draughtsmanship 
and  electrical  work,  in  optical-instrument  making,  including  the  delicate 
and  highly-skilled  work  of  lens  and  prism  making. 

New  Training  Centres  are  constantly  being  opened  in  provincial  areas, 
the  instruction  being  adapted  to  the  needs  of  local  factories.  There  are 
now  (December,  1917)  over  forty  training  schools  for  engineering  work 
in  Great  Britain,  as  well  as  nine  instructional  factories  and  workshops,  and 
the  proportion  of  women  to  men  trained  in  all  the  processes  may  be 
reckoned  roughly  as  two  to  one. 

The  system  of  instruction  is  based,  in  some  of  the  Centres,  on  the  gen- 
eral principle  that  the  School  undertakes  the  preliminary  work  of  tuition 
in  the  simpler  engineering  processes;  the  Instructional  Factory,  or  work- 
shop, specializing  in  the  more  skilled  processes,  acts  as  a  clearing-house  for 
promising  students  from  the  schools.  The  urgency  of  warfare  does  not, 
however,  permit  the  application  of  any  hard-and-fast  rules.  I  have  seen 
specimens  of  some  of  the  most  'advanced'  work  produced  in  a  School; 
indeed,  the  delicate  work  of  lens  polishing  and  centring,  the  intricacies 
of  engineering  draughtsmanship,  the  precise  art  of  tool-setting  and  gauge- 
making  have, become  specialisms  of  the  Schools  in  certain  localities. 

As  I  write,  the  face  of  an  eager  girl  of  21  years  recurs  to  memory. 
She  was  showing  me,  the  other  day,  a  master  gauge  produced  at  a  School  in 
the  Eastern  counties.  'I  made  it  all  myself,'  she  said  joyfully,  'dead 
exact,  and  all  the  other  gauges  of  this  size  in  the  School  are  made  from  it. 
I  have  just  been  appointed  assistant  instructor  in  gauge-making.'  When 
it  is  recalled  that  the  deviation  in  the  measurements  of  a  gauge  is  only 


TURNING  THE  COPPER  BAND  OF  A  9.2-INCH  HIGH-EXPLOSIVE  SHELL 


DRILLING  SAFETY-PIN  HOLE  IN  FUSE 


;^-f-f-t    —jHHff 


'^jm^d^m^ 


INSPECTINC;  AND  GAUGING  FUSES 


ilUMM,    I  in;    olTSIDE  AND  FORMING  THF  NOSE-END 
OF  A  !I.2-IN('H   HKiH-EXPLOSIVE  SHELL 


THE  WOMAN'S  PART  17 

tolerated  within  such  limits  as  a  x¥^t^  P^^t  of  an  inch,  the  production 
in  a  School  of  a  master  gauge,  'dead  exact'  in  all  its  dimensions,  is  a  proof 
that  the  student  has  already  gone  some  way  in  the  mastery  of  the  craft 
of  the  engineer. 

The  Instructional  Factory 

On  the  other  hand,  the  Instructional  Factory  is  often  forced  by  war 
conditions  to  enrol  raw  recruits  who  seem  likely  material  for  the  urgent 
needs  of  surrounding  factories.  In  such  cases,  the  candidate  is  placed  on 
trial  for  a  week  or  two  in  the  Instructional  Workshop,  as  in  the  School. 
If,  at  the  close  of  the  period  of  probation,  she  is  deemed  unsuitable,  she 
is  advised  at  that  preliminary  stage  to  return  to  her  former  occupation. 

Speaking  generally,  the  rejects  are  extraordinarily  few,  and  although 
it  would  be  premature  to  draw  definite  conclusions,  the  experience  of  the 
Training  Section  suggests  that  there  is  considerable  latent  capacity  for 
engineering  work  in  a  large  number  of  women.  A  tour  of  the  Instructional 
Workshops  emphasizes  the  point;  everywhere,  women  may  be  seen 
mastering  in  the  short  intensive  course  the  one  advanced  job  for  which 
each  is  being  trained.  In  the  Instructional  Workshop,  the  atmosphere  of 
a  School  is  exchanged  for  that  of  a  factory,  the  conditions  of  a  modern 
engineering  shop  being  reflected  within  its  precincts.  Thus  the  students 
'clock  on  and  off'  on  arrival  and  on  departure,  observe  factory  shifts, 
work  on  actual  commercial  jobs,  obtain  their  tools  from  an  attached  store, 
and  so  on.  The  work  varies  in  these  Instructional  Factories  as  in  the 
engineering  shop  of  the  commercial  world. 

In  one  section  of  such  a  hall  of  tuition  you  may  see  the  women  intent 
on  the  production  of  screws,  or  bolts,  or  nuts;  in  another  part,  such  objects 
as  fuse  needles  may  be  in  the  course  of  manufacture.  You  stop  to  see  the 
magic  which  is  answerable  for  the  birth  of  the  tiny  factor  which  shall 
detonate  the  explosive,  and  you  are  amazed  to  find  that  a  fuse  needle 
requires  six  tools  for  its  production  and  eight  to  nine  gauges  for  testing 
the  accuracy  of  its  measurements.  Or,  you  may  perhaps  pause  before 
a  machine  which  is  turning  out  tiny  grub  screws.  To  see  a  rod  of  steel 
oflier  itself,  as  it  were,  to  the  rightful  instruments  on  a  complicated  machine 
to  impress  the  thread  and  slit,  to  watch  it  proceeding  on  its  way  until 
a  tiny  section  is  divided  and  a  complete  screw  is  handed  over  to  a  tray 
outside  the  machine,  is,  to  the  uninitiated,  a  miracle  in  itself. 

To  see  the  whole  of  these  complicated  processes  guided  and  operated 
by  a  smiling  girl  makes  one  hopeful  for  the  national  industries  of  the  future. 
Setters-up  of  tools  are  at  work  in  another  section  of  the  same  Instructional 
Factory  and  at  other  machines  are  students  grinding,  milling,  or  profiling. 


18  THE  WOMAN'S  PART 

You  may  then  visit  another  Instructional  Factory  to  find  that  aircraft 
is  the  specialty.  I  recall  one  such  training-ground  in  a  bay  of  an  aeroplane 
factory.  There  the  girls  learn  almost  every  part  of  aircraft  production, 
from  the  handling  of  the  tiny  hammers  used  on  the  woodwork  for  the  body 
and  wings,  to  the  assembling,  or  putting  together  the  tested  parts.  In 
this  training  factory,  a  system  prevails  of  lectures  by  the  practical  instruc- 
tors on  the  use  of  necessary  tools;  questions  from  the  students  are  encour- 
aged at  the  close  of  the  lecture,  and,  I  was  informed,  when  on  one  occasion 
I  was  one  of  the  audience,  that  the  saving  of  the  instructor's  time  by  the 
adoption  of  this  method  was  beyond  expected  results. 

Again,  you  may  visit  an  Instructional  Factory  where  foundry  work  is 
included  in  the  curriculum,  or  where  advanced  machine  work  is  a  feature. 
I  have  stood  in  one  Instructional  Workshop  where  some  600  machines 
were  whirring  simultaneously,  and  where  the  spirit  of  energy  and  goodwill 
of  both  students  and  instructors  seemed  as  tangible  as  the  metal  objects 
produced.  In  this  institution  all  the  accomplished  work  is  for  production; 
night  as  well  as  day  shifts  are  worked,  and  the  needs  of  our  armies, 
or  those  of  our  Allies,  are  frankly  discussed  with  the  operators.  There 
is  no  occasion  for  other  incentive:  raw  recruits,  students  from  the  Schools, 
discharged  soldiers  from  the  Front,  men  unfit  for  active  service,  all  these 
denizens  of  the  training-shop  vie  with  each  other  to  produce  a  maximum 
output. 

It  speaks  volumes  for  this  workshop  that  in  spite  of  the  continual 
changes  of  operators — each  set  of  students  remaining  only  for  a  course 
of  six  to  eight  weeks — it  is  entirely  maintained  on  a  commercial  basis.  To 
reach  such  a  standard  in  these  circumstances  is  to  imply  that  the  heroism 
of  the  workshop  has  become  an  ingrained  habit  in  operators  and  staff. 

First  Steps  in  Industrial  Life 

I  remember  watching  in  this  training-ground  the  manufacture  of  small 
aero-engine  parts,  exact  in  dimensions  to  within  the  smallest  limits  of 
tolerance.  I  put  a  query  as  to  the  wastage  of  material  in  such  an  operation, 
when  handled  by  comparative  new-comers.  'Scrapping  from  this  process', 
replied  the  production  manager  with  pride,  'does  not  exceed  a  total  average 
of  one  per  cent.'  The  women  at  work  at  the  time  had  come  from  the  most 
ivaried  occupations.  A  large  proportion  had  never  worked  outside  their  own 
'home,  others  were  domestic  servants,  cooks,  housemaids,  and  so  on,  others 
were  dressmakers  from  small  towns,  and  one,  I  recall,  was  an  assistant 
from  a  spa,  where  she  had  been  engaged  handing  out  'waters'  to  invalids. 
'It  is  not  the  rank  of  society  from  which  the  student  is  drawn  that  matters,' 
remarked  an  instructor;  'it  is  the  personality  of  the  individual  that  counts.' 


THE  WOMAN'S  PART  19 

Every  care  has  been  taken  by  the  Ministry  of  Munitions  to  make  it 
easy  for  women  of  all  classes  to  participate  In  their  schemes  of  instruction. 
The  middle  class  girl  who  has  never  undertaken  independent  work,  the 
woman  who  has  always  lived  and  worked  within. the  shelter  of  her  own 
home,  undoubtedly  felt  In  many  cases  debarred  from  entering  Industrial 
life.  The  necessity  of  living  away  from  her  family,  in  order  to  enter 
a  Training-School,  the  absence  of  home  conditions  in  school  or  factory,  the 
dread  of  an  entirely  masculine  superintendence,  all  helped  to  strengthen 
artificial  barriers  between  potential  students  and  the  needed  engineering 
work.  The  Training  Section,  watching  the  development  of  its  schemes, 
became  aware  of  the  necessity  of  making  arrangements  for  students  from 
the  Welfare  point  of  view,  and  an  organization  has  thus  developed  by 
which  the  first  steps  in  Industrial  life  are  made  easy  for  the  most  apprehen- 
sive of  new-comers. 

Girl  students  by  rail  are  met  by  a  responsible  woman  official  and  are 
accompanied  to  suitable  lodgings,  or  to  hostels.  In  the  event  of  pressure 
in  accommodation,  the  new  student  is  introduced  to  temporary  apartments, 
or  to  a  'Clearing  Hostel',  where  she  awaits  In  comfort  a  vacancy.  In 
the  large  Training  Centres,  a  woman  supervisor  is  In  charge.  She  makes 
all  arrangements  as  to  the  provision  of  meals,  rest-rooms,  cloak-rooms, 
Flrst-AId  centres,  and  so  on,  and  is  ready  to  advise  the  women  students  on 
all  points  relating  to  their  personal  interests. 

Women  students  are  also  enabled  to  wear  a  khaki  uniform,  as  members 
of  the  Mechanical  Unit  of  the  Women's  Legion,  a  privilege  found  to  be  of 
distinct  value  to  girls  unaccustomed  to  steering  an  independent  course 
in  the  more  boisterous  streams  of  life.  The  appreciation  of  the  students 
of  the  safe-guarding  of  their  Individual  desires  crops  out  in  unexpected 
places.  In  a  handful  of  correspondence  from  students,  one  gleans  such 
remarks  as  the   following: 

'Mrs.  H.  never  spares  herself  any  trouble  as  long  as  she  can  make  things  pleasant 
for  me,  she  considers  it  her  "war  work"  to  make  munition  workers  happy,  and  it 
is  very  nice  to  meet  people  that  appreciate  what  we  are  doing  for  our  country.' 

'We  were  met  at  the  station  by  the  works  motor.  All  at  once  we  turned  up  an 
avenue  of  lime-trees  and  drew  up  at  the  door  of  our  country  estate.  It  is  a  real  lovely 
house  and  we  revel  in  the  glories  of  fresh  air,  lawns  and  gardens,  good  beds  and 
well-spread  tables.  We  cross  a  field  to  the  works.  Dinner  and  tea  await  us  when 
we  get  here,  and  there  is  a  well-stocked  vegetable  garden  to  give  us  fresh  vegetables,  so 
we  all  feel  indeed  that  our  lines  are  fallen  in  pleasant  places,  and  we  are  very  grateful.' 

In  these  ways  a  bridge  has  been  built  by  the  Ministry  of  Munitions 
between  the  normal  life  of  the  women  in  this  country  and  the  work  in 
the  munitions  factory. 


CHAPTER  III:   AT  WORK— I 

SHELLS  AND  SHELL  CASES— IN  THE  FUSE  SHOP— CARTRIDGES  AND  BULLETS 

ARRIVED  in  the  munitions  factory,  the  new-comer,  whether  from 
a  Government  Training  Centre,  or  from  another  occupation,  is 
given  two  or  three  weeks'  trial  on  the  task  she  has  come  to  under- 
take. Only  a  very  small  proportion  of  the  women  offering  their  services — 
one  experienced  manager  puts  it  at  5  per  cent. — are  found  unsuitable,  and 
these  are  discharged  during  the  probationary  period. 

Except  in  the  case  of  those  who  have  received  a  preliminary  training, 
or  of  those  who  have  merely  transferred  their  energies  from  other  factory 
work,  the  average  woman  has,  at  the  Initial  stage  In  the  munitions  shops, 
to  overcome  an  instinctive  fear  of  the  machine.  Occasionally,  the  fear  Is 
Intensified  Into  an  unreasoning  phase  of  terror.  'One  hac  to  coax  the 
women  to  stay  with  such  as  these,'  said  one  understanding  foreman, 
pointing  to  a  monster  machine  with  huge-toothed  wheels.  'We  don't 
ask  a  woman  to  sit  alone  with  these  at  first,  for  she  wouldn't  do  it,  so  we 
put  a  man  with  her,  and  let  her  sit  and  watch  a  bit,  and  after  a  while  she 
loses  her  fear  and  won't  work  anything  else.  If  she  can  help  It.' 

The  Vv^omen,  in  fact,  soon  get  attached  to  the  machines  they  are  work- 
ing. In  a  manner  probably  unknown  to  the  men.  'I've  been  here  a  year 
on  this  machine,  and  I  can't  do  near  so  well  on  any  other,'  is  a  remark 
many  a  girl  has  made  to  me  as  I  have  watched  her  on  a  difficult  job.  From 
time  to  time,  a  girl  will  even  confess  that  she  'can't  bear  to  think  of 
some  one  on  the  night-shift  working  her  machine'.  An  understanding 
has  arisen  between  the  machine  and  the  operator  which  amounts  almost 
to  affection.  I  have  often  noticed  the  expression  of  this  emotion  In  the 
workshops;  the  caressing  touch  of  a  woman's  fingers,  for  Instance,  as 
a  bore  Is  being  urged  on  to  the  job  on  the  machine.  This  touch,  which 
cannot  be  taught,  or  Imparted,  enables  the  operation  to  be  started  In  the 
most  effective  method  possible,  and  goes  to  the  making  of  an  excellent 
and  accurate  worker. 

The  femininity  of  the  worker  has,  howev^er.  Its  drawbacks,  and  for  the 
sake  of  successful  handling  of  women  In  the  munitions  factory,  It  is  as  well 
that  these  psychological  points  should  be  noted.    If,  for  example,  a  machine 

20 


ASSEMBLING    FUSES 


.l.\',    -HKLL   FORGINt..- 


^".y^  J 


OPEUATING  A  LUMSDEN  I'LAIN     GRINDEH: 
RE-FORMING  8-INCH  HIGH-EXP  LOSIVE  CUTTERS 


THE  WOMAN'S  PART  21 

is  out  of  gear,  or  If  the  operation  is  held  up  for  any  other  cause,  the  women 
munition  makers  will  sometimes  behave  In  an  unreasonable  manner,  quite 
bewildering  to  a  foreman  accustomed  only  to  dealing  with  men.  The 
temporary  cessation  of  work  may  make  only  a  slight  money  difference  to 
the  woman  operator  by  the  end  of  the  week :  'not  enough  to  fuss  about,' 
as  the  foreman  judges.  But  the  woman  nevertheless  often  does  fuss,  be- 
cause in  her  eyes  the  wages  do  not  loom  so  large  as  the  interruption  to  her 
work.  She  'hates  standing-by',  she  will  say,  for  she  cannot  express  the 
emotion  of  which  she  is  but  dimly  conscious,  that  a  woman's  deep  Instinct 
is  to  give  freely  of  her  fullness,  and  it  frets  her  very  soul  to  be  balked  in 
the  middle  of  a  job. 

Other  Initial  obstacles  in  the  employment  of  'new'  female  labour  in 
the  factories  result  from  the  exchange  of  the  manifold  duties  of  the  woman 
in  her  own  home  for  repetition  work  performed  in  the  company  of  hun- 
dreds of  other  human  beings.  These  difficulties  are,  however,  soon  over- 
come, and  the  new-comer,  generally  speaking,  rapidly  becomes  one  of  a 
large  and  merry  company.  The  whirr  of  the  wheels  and  the  persistent 
throb  of  the  machinery  may  at  first  distract  her,  but  after  a  short  time  the 
factory  noises  are  unnoticed,  save  as  an  accompaniment  to  her  thoughts, 
her  laughter,  or  her  song.  I  have  Indeed  met  in  the  England  of  to-day 
nothing  more  Inspiriting,  outside  the  soldiers'  camps,  than  the  women 
munition  workers  at  work  or  at  play. 

In  August  19 1 6,  there  were  some  500  different  munitions  processes 
upon  which  women  were  engaged.  To-day,  they  are  employed  upon 
practically  every  operation  in  factory,  in  foundry,  in  laboratory,  and 
chemical  works,  of  which  they  are  physically  capable.  Within  the  limits 
of  this  publication  it  is  not  possible  to  follow  them  into  every  field  of 
their  endeavours,  yet  a  glance  at  their  work  in  a  few  typical  products  may 
give  some  slight  indication  of  women's  contribution  to  Britain's  effort  in 
the  World  War. 

Shells  and  Shell  Cases 

Of  the  numbers  of  operations  that  go  to  the  making  of  a  shell,  women 
now  undertake  every  process.  In  some  works,  including  even  the  forging 
of  the  billets  in  the  foundry.  It  was  the  urgent  need  of  a  greatly  increased 
output  of  shells  in  19 15  which  led  to  the  widespread  introduction  into 
the  engineering  shops  of  female  labour,  and  the  women  have  repaid  this 
unique  opportunity  by  their  unqualified  success.  So  rapid,  and  so  marked, 
has  been  their  progress  in  shell  production  that  by  the  spring  of  1917 
the  official  announcement  was  justified,  that,  by  March  31   of  that  year, 


22  THE  WOMAN'S  PART 

Government  contracts  for  shells  of  certain  dimensions  would  only  be  given 
where  80  per  cent,  of  the  employees  were  women. 

At  first,  the  women  were  mainly  engaged  in  simple  machine  opera- 
tions, such  as  boring,  drilling,  and  turning,  or  in  filling  the  shells.  They 
are,  at  present,  working  hydraulic  presses,  guiding  huge  overhead  cranes, 
'tonging',  or  lifting  the  molten  billets,  'setting',  or  fitting  the  tools  in 
the  machines,  inspecting  and  gauging,  painting  the  finished  shell  cases, 
making  the  boxes  for  dispatch  of  the  finished  product,  and  trucking  these 
when  finally  screwed  up  and  ready  for  exit  from  the  factory  to  the  Front. 
It  is  not  possible  to  describe  here  in  detail  women's  entire  contribution 
to  the  production  of  a  shell,  but,  from  foundry  to  railway  truck,  she  has 
become  an  alert  and  promising  worker. 

In  the  foundry,  her  appearance  is  as  yet  exceptional,  yet  in  the  North 
country  it  is  no  unusual  sight  to  find  a  woman  in  the  cage  suspended  from 
the  overhead  travelling  crane,  operating  its  protruding  arm.  Now,  she 
will  pick  up  with  the  clumsy  iron  fingers  a  pig  of  iron  and  thrust  it  into 
the  glowing  depths  of  a  furnace,  or  she  will  lift  the  red-hot  billet  and 
bring  it  to  the  hydraulic  press,  where  it  is  roughly  hollowed  into  its  pre- 
destined shape. 

In  the  shell  shop  proper  you  may  watch  the  woman  operator  on  some 
scores  of  processes;  at  one  machine,  she  may  be  attacking  the  centre  of 
the  billet  with  a  revolving  nose,  at  another  she  may  be  'turning'  the 
outside  of  a  shell.  The  shavings  curl  off  in  this  process  like  hot  bacon 
rind  and  fall  in  iridescent  rings  around  her:  blue,  purple,  peacock,  or 
gleaming  silver.  Or,  you  may  watch  the  woman  worker  'threading'  the 
shell,  a  process  by  which  the  screw  threads  are  provided,  into  which  the 
nose  of  the  shell  is  afterwards  fitted;  or,  you  may  stand  and  marvel  at  the 
skill  of  the  worker  who  so  deftly  rivets  the  base-plate  into  the  shell's  lower 
end.  But,  perhaps,  the  most  attractive  operation  to  the  visitor  to  the  shell 
shop  is  the  fitting  and  grooving  of  the  shell's  copper  band,  a  process  which 
leaves  the  machine  and  worker  half-hidden  in  the  glory  of  sunset  tints,  as 
the  copper  scrap  falls  thickly  from  the  machine. 

At  every  stage,  the  shell  is  gauged  and  tested,  examined  and  re-exam- 
ined, since  accuracy  is  the  watch-word  of  its  production.  Sometimes,  the 
machine-operator  will  gauge  her  own  product;  at  other  stages,  the  shell 
passes  into  the  hands  of  women  overlookers  of  the  factory,  the  final  tests 
being  made  by  Government  'viewers'.  The  inside,  as  well  as  the  outside 
of  the  shell  is  submitted  to  such  inspection,  and  you  may  see  women 
peering  into  the  interior  of  the  shells,  aided  by  the  light  from  a  tiny 
electric  bulb,  mounted  on  a  stick.  This  contrivance  is  thrust  successively 
into  rows  and  rows  of  shells. 


THE  WOMAN'S  PART  23 

Women  are  now  exclusively  used  for  the  painting  of  the  shells,  a  process 
accompished,  not  by  means  of  a  brush  and  paint-pot,  but  by  the  operator 
playing  a  fine  electrically-worked  syringe  on  to  the  surface  of  the  shell. 
This  process  is  undertaken  in  what  is  often  called  'the  butcher's  shop', 
the  shells,  in  pairs,  being  swung  up  on  a  rope  into  a  compartment  where 
the  operator  works  from  behind  a  protective  iron  screen. 

In  the  Filling  shops,  women's  devotion  to  their  work  has  been  proved 
once  and  again.  Whether  the  process  undertaken  be  in  company  of  a  few 
comrades,  or  in  isolated  huts  where  lonely  vigils  are  kept  over  stores  of 
explosives,  the  munition-girls  are  hardly  known  to  flinch  in  their  duty. 

Sometimes,  they  have  volunteered  to  work  throughout  the  night  when 
air-raids  are  In  progress,  at  other  times,  women-workers  have  returned  to 
the  Danger  Zone  immediately  after  some  bad  experience  there;  and,  In 
every  case,  the  woman  worker  in  the  Filling  Factory  cheerfully  sacrifices 
much  which  she  holds  dear  in  life.  It  may  signify  but  little  to  a  man  to 
give  up  his  small  personal  possessions  whilst  at  work  In  the  danger  areas, 
but  to  many  a  woman  worker  it  means  much,  that  she  may  not  wear 
a  brooch,  or  a  flower,  while  on  duty,  and  that  her  wedding-ring,  the  only 
allowable  trinket,  must  be  bound  with  thread  while  she  works.  Her 
tresses,  which  she  normally  loves  to  braid,  or  twist  Into  varying  fashions, 
must  also  be  left  hairpinless  beneath  her  cap.  She  must  relinquish  her 
personal  belongings  before  going  to  her  allotted  task;  no  crochet-hook  or 
knitting-pin  may  accompany  her  Into  the  zone  where  friction  of  steel, 
or  hard  metal,  might  spell  death  to  a  multitude  of  employees.  Yet  this 
sacrifice  of  Individuality  Is  given  freely  by  the  woman  In  the  Filling  shop, 
and  she  Is  still  merry-hearted  and  blithe  as  she  fills  the  small  bags  with 
deadly  powder,  or  binds  the  charge  which  shall  fire  the  shell. 

When  the  shell  Is  finally  filled  and  passed  'O.K.',  or  perfect.  It  Is  a 
woman  who  packs  It  Into  Its  box  and  who  wheels  It  on  a  truck,  sometimes 
for  a  mile  or  more  over  narrow  platforms,  to  hand  it  to  another  woman 
who  stacks  It  Into  the  waiting  railway-wagon.  Any  one  who  has  watched 
throughout  the  production  of  a  shell  in  a  factory  of  to-day  can  only  echo 
a  well-known  author's  recent  salute:  'Hats  off  to  the  Women'. 

In  the  Fuse  Shop 

The  fuse,  that  small  and  complicated  object  which  explodes  the  shell, 
is  a  war-product  now  largely  produced  by  women's  labour.  A  few 
Inches  in  length.  It  requires  some  hundreds  of  operations  for  Its 
manufacture,  even  If  the  Initial  processes  on  the  metal  are  excluded  from 
the  count.     In  section,  It  looks  like  a  complicated  metal  jig-saw  puzzle  of 


24  THE  WOMAN'S  PART 

exquisite  finish  and  cohesion:  viewing  it  externally,  a  child  might  mistake 
it  for  a  conjurer's  'property',  a  bright  metal  egg,  or  roll  often  surrounded 
by  a  metal  ring  marked  with  time  measurements. 

The  care  and  accuracy  necessary  for  the  production  of  this  small  object 
can  hardly  be  imagined  by  the  uninitiated:  it  is  measured  and  re-measured 
in  every  diameter,  since  on  its  perfection  depends  the  life  of  the  gunner 
and  his  team.  The  fuse  shop  is  usually  characterized  by  its  cleanliness 
and  quietude.  I  recall  one  such  shop  stretching  far  away  into  distance 
both  in  length  and  breadth.  Under  its  roof  some  1,500  women  were  at 
work.  Conversation  could  be  held  in  any  part  of  the  shop,  undisturbed 
by  the  usual  factory  noises.  The  fuse  parts  are,  indeed,  so  small  that  the 
niachinery  is  necessarily  light,  and  in  such  a  shop  It  Is  dexterity  and  accuracy 
that  tell,   rather  than  physical  strength. 

Rows  of  graceful  women  and  girls  were  standing  at  their  machines, 
and  I  recall  how  their  overalls  and  caps  of  varied  hues  made  a  rainbow 
effect,  as  one  watched  from  a  distant  corner.  Some  were  in  cream  colour 
and  some  in  russet-brown,  or  apple  green,  the  caps  sometimes  matching 
the  overall  and  sometimes  offering  a  strong  contrast.  A  splash  of  purple, 
or  a  deep  magenta,  mingled  with  the  head-dresses  of  softer  hue,  for  In 
this  shop,  away  from  the  Danger  Zone,  no  Insistence  was  made  on  uni- 
formity of  factory  costume.  Other  women,  wearing  a  distinctive  armlet, 
were  passing  In  and  out  between  the  rows  of  workers,  now  stopping  and 
bending  over  a  machine,  now  making  some  bright  remark  to  the  operator, 
as  a  ripple  of  laughter  Indicated,  or  again,  pointing  out  in  sterner  wise 
some  danger,  or  some  error  In  the  job.  These  itinerary  women  are  the 
overlookers,  who  since  the  war  have  perfected  themselves  In  their  special 
job  and  can  now  supervise  the  operators. 

At  long  tables,  other  women  were  sitting;  some  quite  elderly  and  grey- 
haired,  some  mere  girls.  They  were  measuring  with  small  gauges  parts 
of  the  fuse,  some  the  size  of  a  good-sized  bead.  There  are  150  different 
gauges  authorized  for  the  measurement  of  one  type  of  fuse,  and  in  practice 
even  more  are  used,  to  ensure  perfection  of  accuracy.  I  stood  spell-bound 
at  one  of  these  gauging  tables  and  watched  the  examination  of  small 
screws  and  flash  plugs.  There  were  six  little  squares  of  felt  on  the  table, 
on  which  the  examiner  placed  rejects,  classified  according  to  the  detected 
flaw.  The  work  proceeded  with  the  utmost  dispatch,  the  'accepted'  or 
'perfect'  heap  growing  as  If  by  magic. 

At  another  table,  a  girl  was  testing  springs  of  about  an  inch  long. 
If  any  of  these  showed  the  smallest  fraction  too  much  length  after  being 
submitted  to  a  given  pressure,  they  were  put  aside  as  'scrap'.  At  yet 
another  table,  tiny  fuse  needles  were  being  examined  for  length,  thickness 


THE  WOMAN'S  PART  25 

of  phlange,  and  accuracy  of  point,  and  on  a  high  flat  desk,  near  a  machine, 
I  noticed  seventeen  different  gauges  were  ranged  for  the  examination  of 
the  percussion  end  of  the  fuse-body,  one  ten-thousandth  part  of  an  inch 
being  the  hmitation  or  variation  allowed  in  such  parts. 

When  all  the  parts  have  been  examined  they  are  passed  to  other  tables 
for  assembling,  or  putting  together.  In  this  operation  almost  superhuman 
care  Is  required,  and  the  work  is  reserved  for  the  best  operators  and  time- 
keepers as  a  reward  for  long  service.  ^Assembling'  is  regarded  as  the 
plum  of  the  fuse-room.  The  operators  are  well  aware  of  the  importance 
of  the  task,  as  they  stow  away  in  the  time  fuses  the  pea-ball,  pellet,  spring, 
stirrup,  ferrule,  and  other  components  of  the  fuse.  The  needle  Is  fixed  by 
blows  from  a  small  hammer,  and  at  length  the  fuse  is  completed  and  passes 
out  of  the  room  of  Its  creation  to  receive  its  'filling'  from  other  hands. 

Cartridges  and  Bullets 

The  production  of  cartridges  and  bullets  Is  another  branch  of  muni- 
tions production  In  which  women  are  mainly  employed.  These  objects, 
which,  when  completed,  are  together  no  longer  than  a  ball-room  pencil, 
make  In  their  manufacture  no  great  demand  on  physical  strength. 

On  entering  a  cartridge  and  bullet  shop,  one  is  at  once  struck  with  its 
Individuality.  There  Is  more  stir  and  movement  than  in  a  fuse-room,  but 
less  of  the  Imperlousness  of  the  machinery  than  In  the  shell  or  gun  shop. 
There  Is  in  the  cartridge  and  bullet  room  still  the  whirr  of  wheels  and. 
above  that,  the  deep  constant  throb  of  the  driving-force,  that  makes  con- 
versation almost  inaudible  to  the  new-comer.  But  beneath  this  bass  accom- 
paniment, one  can  hear  the  lesser  sounds  belonging  to  the  cartridge  and 
bullet-room  alone.  There  may  be  the  buzz  of  the  circulating  gas  machines 
— which  resemble  miniature  merry-go-rounds — the  tap,  tap,  of  the  car- 
tridges as  they  are  thrown  out  of  the  machine  into  a  box  below,  and  the 
tinkle  of  bullets  as  they  are  poured  into  weighing  machines,  or  on  to  tables, 
or  Into  huge  barrels,  such  as  are  used  on  the  wharves  for  the  transport  of 
herrings. 

A  cartridge  and  bullet-shop  sometimes  is  as  animated  and  as  picturesque 
as  an  open-air  market  under  a  southern  sky.  I  remember  such  a  shop  where 
the  girls  were  in  various  factory  costumes,  some  at  the  machines  in  khaki 
and  some  in  cream-coloured  overalls  and  caps;  some,  who  were  'trucking', 
or  removing  the  product  In  boxes,  were  in  cream  trouser-sults,  with  smart 
head-dresses  fashioned  from  brightly-coloured  oriental  handkerchiefs.  In 
between  the  rows  of  girls  men  in  dark  suits  were  passing  to  and  fro,  now 
stopping  to  examine,  or  alter  a  machine  and  now  taking  up  a  box  of  bullets 


26  THE  WO^IAN'S  PART 

and  pouring  out  its  glittering  contents  like  a  silver  stream,  so  that  the 
output  from  each  worker  might  be  weighed  and  assessed. 

Through  an  open  door,  at  one  side  of  the  shop,  one  could  see  other 
men,  like  stern  magicians,  dropping  cartridges  into  vats  of  acid,  and  just 
to  the  side  of  the  vats  I  caught  sight  of  two  girls  vigorously  shaking  a  sack 
of  cartridges,  hot  from  the  furnace.  As  they  shook,  they  sang  an  army 
refrain:  'Take  me  back  to  dear  old  Blighty,'  with  a  chorus  of  laughter. 
At  the  extreme  end  of  the  shop,  near  the  door  whence  the  product  made 
its  exit,  were  long  narrow  tables,  piled  with  bullets,  reminding  one  of  a 
haul  of  silver  sprats  on  the  quay-side.  These  were  the  inspecting  tables 
where  the  bullets  receive  minute  attention  from  women  viewers. 

The  women's  work  in  the  bullet-shop  is  of  extraordinary  interest  to 
the  onlooker,  although  many  of  the  processes  must  be  infinitely  more 
monotonous,  from  the  worker's  standpoint,  than  operations  in  other 
munitions  productions.  The  elongation  of  the  little  metal  vessel,  resem- 
bling an  acorn-cup,  into  a  full-length  cartridge,  or  bullet,  necessitates  many 
operations  in  which  the  dexterity  of  human  fingers  and  the  ingenuity 
of  the  machine  both  come  into  play.  In  the  shop  I  recall,  in  one  machine 
employed  for  semi-annealing,  the  cartridge  was  being  'fed'  into  a  metal 
revolving  plate.  This  passed  behind  an  asbestos  screen  into  a  double 
row  of  gas  jets,  where  the  semi-annealing  or  hardening  process  was  being 
accomplished.  The  dexterity  of  the  operators  was  so  great  that  one 
woman  was  often  feeding  two  machines,  apparently  without  effort,  and 
never  missed  placing  the  cartridge  into  the  correct  aperture  in  the  revolv- 
ing plate. 

In  another  process,  I  w^atched  young  girls  sitting  round  a  table  and 
placing  bullets  into  circular  apertures  in  small  trays,  resembling  solitaire- 
boards.  Many  of  the  girls  were  working  with  such  speed  that  it  was 
impossible  to  follow  the  movements  of  their  fingers,  but  they,  unconscious 
of  their  prowess,  worked  with  averted  heads,  smiling  in  amusement  at 
the  visitor's  astonishment. 

In  yet  another  operation,  it  was  the  machine  that  held  one's  attention. 
The  operator  was  feeding  cartridges  into  a  metal  band  which  slipped  out 
of  view  while  the  process  of  'tapering'  was  performed.  When  finished, 
a  metal  thumb  and  index  finger  appeared,  which  delicately  picked  up  the 
cartridges,  one  by  one,  and  threw  them  aside.  The  displaced  cartridge 
then  hopped  out  of  the  machine  into  a  box  at  the  side  of  the  machine. 

Entranced  by  the  many  mysteries  in  the  production  of  cartridges  and 
bullets  in  the  shop  I  am  recalling,  I  had  not  noticed  that  the  tea-interval 
had  arrived,  and  suddenly  found  that  the  work-room  was  almost  empty  of 
human   beings.      Only   two   girls    remained.      They   were   sitting   sewing. 


THE  WOMAN'S  PART  27 

whilst  they  devoured  thick  slices  of  bread  and  butter  out  of  a  newspaper 
packet.  The  woman  inspector,  who  was  my  guide,  turned  sharply.  'What 
are  you  doing  here?'  she  said,  'Eating  your  tea  in  the  workshop,  instead  of 
outside,  or  in  the  canteen.  Be  off  at  once  into  the  fresh  air.'  Then,  with 
the  indignation  fading  out  of  a  good-humoured  face:  'What  next?'  she 
said. 

Looking  out  of  the  open  door  at  the  streams  of  bright  and  happy 
girls  laughing,  singing,  dancing,  and  running,  as  only  healthy  youth  can 
do  in  the  midst  of  these  dark  days  of  war,  I  seemed  to  see  other  and 
brighter  days  ahead  stretching  out  into  the  years  of  the  future,  when  the 
workfolk  would  all  taste  a  fuller  joy  in  life.  With  renewed  hope,  I  gave 
her  back  her  challenge:    'Well!  and  what  next?' 


CHAPTER  IV:    AT  WORK— II 

THE  MAKING  OF  AIRCRAFT— OPTICAL  INSTRUMENTS— IN  THE  SHIPYARDS 

The  Making  of  Aircraft 

THE  production  of  aircraft,  undertaken  in  this  country  on  a  large 
scale  only  since  the  outbreak  of  the  war,  has  fallen  more  naturally 
into  the  hands  of  women.  The  work  is  for  the  most  part  light, 
and  the  new  factories,  often  erected  in  open  country,  are  bright,  airy,  and 
largely  free  from  the  noise  of  machinery.  Added  to  these  special  attrac- 
tions to  the  woman  worker,  there  is  apparently  a  distinct  appeal  to  the 
youth  of  both  sexes  and  to  women  of  all  ages  in  anything  connected  with 
the  art  of  flying. 

It  is  no  secret  that  our  output  of  aircraft  is  steadily  increasing,  and 
that  during  1917  it  has  been  doubled.  In  one  factory  in  London,  the 
output  has  been  trebled  within  three  months;  in  Lancashire,  there  are 
instances  in  which  it  has  been  doubled,  and  other  areas  show  an  improved 
production  varying  from  25  to  50  per  cent.  Yet  the  increased  demand 
for  labour  for  this  work  has  always  been  immediately  answered,  and  there 
is  a  steady  flow  into  the  factories  of  the  best  type  of  women  workers  from 
every  class  of  society.  Here  and  there,  one  already  meets  a  woman  who, 
during  the  short  period  of  the  war,  has  risen  to  be  manager  or  partner 
in  an  aircraft  factory.  Unconsciously,  such  a  one  emphasizes  the  fact 
that  the  mastery  of  the  element  of  the  future  is  likely  to  be  an  affair  of 
both  the  sexes. 

A  visit  to  any  aeroplane  factory  repeats  the  hint,  and  reveals  the 
extraordinary  versatility  of  skill  latent  in  women,  which  can  well  be  applied 
to  this  form  of  industry.  'Women  must  have  been  cabin'd,  cribbed,  and 
confined  before  the  war',  said  a  foreman  in  taking  me  over  his  shop  in 
an  aircraft  works.  'Look  what  they  can  do  at  this  kind  of  job,  and  yet 
many  of  them  are  ladies  from  homes  where  they  sat  about  and  were 
waited  upon.'  The  wonder  of  it  cannot  fail  to  impress  a  visitor,  since  only 
four  years  ago  women  were  allowed  to  undertake  in  aircraft  construction 
merely  those  parts  which  convention  deemed  suitable  for  feminine  fingers: 
such  processes,  for  instance,  as  the  sewing  of  the  wings  by  hand,  or  by 
machine,  or  the  painting  of  the  woodwork. 

28 


ENGRAVING  METAL  PARTS  FOR  COMPASSES 


COLOURING  AEROPLANE  PLANES 


CHIPPING  AND  GRINDING  BLADES  OF  CAST  IRON  PROPELLER 
WITH  PORTABLE  TOOLS 


WOMAN  ACTING  AS  MATE  TO  JOINER.      MAKING  SKA-PLANE  !•  l.i  i  A  I- 


THE  WOMAN'S  PART  29 

To-day,  they  undertake  almost  every  other  process  both  at  the  car- 
penter's bench  and  in  the  engineering  shop,  and  the  chief  impression  you 
carry  away  from  a  stroll  through  such  a  factory  is  that  the  women  are 
thoroughly  at  home  in  the  work.  The  operations  are  often  so  clean  that 
the  workers'  overalls  and  caps  of  the  daintiest  shades  of  pink,  blue,  white, 
and  heliotrope,  remain  fresh;  the  material  for  aeroplane  parts  is  usually 
so  light  that  the  handling  of  it  presents  no  difficulty  to  a  slip  of  a  girl. 
When  within  the  works,  the  visitor  is  constantly  stimulated  to  the  thought 
that  the  hand  which  rocks  the  cradle  should  obviously  be  the  one  to  make 
the  air-machine. 

One  expects,  of  course,  women's  familiarity  with  the  occupation  in 
the  room  where  the  fine  Irish  linen  is  cut  out  and  fashioned  into  wings. 
One  is  not  surprised  at  the  facility  with  which  the  measuring  and  cutting 
out  are  accomplished,  and,  maybe,  an  emotion  of  admiration  arises,  similar 
to  that  evoked  by  the  contemplation  of  old  tapestries,  when  one  watches 
the  hand-sewing  of  a  seam  in  a  wing  of  some  lo  feet  in  length.  Not 
a  stitch  of  the  button-holing  of  such  a  seam  deviates  by  a  hairbreadth 
from  its  fellows.  Such  work  has,  however,  been  women's  province  through 
the  ages. 

But  a  new  sensation  is  awakened  in  the  carpenter's  shop  where  women 
are  working  with  dexterity  at  the  bench,  handling  woodwork  like  the 
men,  now  dealing  with  delicate  wooden  ribs,  or  again,  fashioning  pro- 
pelers  out  of  mahogany  or  walnut  with  such  nicety  that  there  is  not  the 
slightest  deviation  between  the  dimensions  of  a  pair.  In  the  room  where 
the  linen  is  stretched  over  the  wooden  ribs,  I  have  seen  women  working 
with  tiny  hammers,  giving  fairy  blows  that  never  miss  their  mark  on  tiny 
nails. 

It  is  with  fascination  that  a  visitor  stands  by  be-goggled  women  as 
they  undertake  the  welding  of  metal  joints  by  the  oxy-acetylene  process. 
Here,  conscientiousness  is  a  vital  quality  in  the  operator,  since  an  un- 
detected flaw  in  the  Vv^eld,  as  a  works  foreman  recently  remarked,  'might 
easily  send  an  airman  to  Kingdom  Come'.  For  this  process,  women  of 
education  are  more  often  selected. 

It  is  with  awe  that  you  watch  the  women  at  work  on  the  metal  parts 
of  the  aeroplane,  drilling,  grinding,  boring,  milling  on  the  machine,  or 
soldering  tiny  aluminum  parts  for  the  fuselage,  and  in  each  process 
gauging  and  re-gauging,  measuring  and  re-measuring.  Women  also  work 
on  aero-engines,  and  help  in  the  manufacture  of  the  magneto,  the  very 
heart  of  the  machine.  They  even  undertake  special  processes,  which 
before  the  war  were  only  entrusted  to  a  select  body  of  men.  I  stood  one 
day,  for  example,  watching  a  woman  splicing  steel  rope,  a  process  under- 


30  THE  WOMAN'S  PART 

taken  in  pre-war  days  by  sailors.  She  was  working  with  extraordinary 
speed  and  unconcern,  and  had  learned  the  job  in  three  or  four  days. 
Before  then,  she  told  me,  she  had  been  her  employer's  cook. 

But  the  most  alluring  scene  of  all  is  the  assembling  of  aircraft.  The 
infinite  number  of  separate  parts  are  now  ready;  they  have  been  tested 
by  factory  overlookers  and  retested  by  Government  inspectors.  The 
greatest  care  is  taken  in  these  examinations:  it  is  the  only  possible  insur- 
ance of  the  lives  of  the  brave  youths  on  their  journey  above  the  clouds. 
All  the  workers  know  this,  and  the  seriousness  of  the  job  is  reflected  on 
their  faces.  But  now  all  the  parts  are  ready  and  to  hand  in  the  Erecting 
shop.  Then  wings  and  propeller  are  added  to  body,  the  engine  and 
leather-upholstered  seats  introduced,  the  electric  apparatus  fitted  up,  the 
compass,  ammunition  box  and  other  instruments  and  weapons  placed  in 
position. 

The  aeroplane  is  at  length  complete,  and  stands  in  the  hangar  like  some 
great  bird,  with  outstretched  pinions,  awaiting  its  first  flight  into  the 
Unknown.  Women  undertake  every  process  of  this  assembling,  and  have 
acquired  familiarity  with  all  the  parts.  This  was  put  to  the  test  recently 
in  a  certain  works  when  a  woman  operator  was  directed  to  dismantle 
a  machine.  Without  hesitation,  she  stripped  the  complex  network  of 
the  structural  stay-wires  and  the  control  wires,  and  then  re-assembled 
them,  correct  in  every  particular,  at  the  first  attempt. 

Optical  Instruments 

Of  the  many  industries  developed  by.  the  war,  the  production  of  optical 
instruments  offers  a  striking  example  of  rapid  progress.  Before  1914, 
the  optical  glass  industry  of  Europe  was  largely  in  the  hands  of  Germany 
and  Austria,  and  the  outbreak  of  hostilities  meant  the  total  closing  of  that 
market  to  the  Allies.  The  lack  of  optical  instruments  thus  occasioned  was 
at  first  a  source  of  grave  national  peril,  since  optical  glass  provides,  as  it 
were,  eyes  for  both  Navy  and  Army.  The  eyes  of  the  guns  are  the  range- 
finder,  the  director,  the  sighting  telescope,  periscope,  prism  binoculars, 
and  other  instruments  for  observing  fire  and  correcting  the  aim;  the  tank 
would  be  blind  without  its  periscope,  and  observations  are  made  from 
aircraft  by  means  of  photographic  cameras  and  lenses. 

At  sea,  the  tale  is  repeated;  the  submarine  requires  at  least  one  eye, 
and  the  submarine  chaser  needs  many,  while,  by  means  of  optical  instru- 
ments, the  naval  gunner  can  fire  at  a  target  which  is  about  15  to  20  miles 
away.  The  very  health  of  the  army  depends,  in  great  measure,  on  optical 
glass,  since  the  Royal  Army  Medical  Corps  fights  malaria  and  other  diseases 


THE  WOMAN'S  PART  31 

due  to  parasites,  which  must  be  magnified  by  a  microscope  a  thousand 
times  before  they  can  be  identified.  Hence,  the  solution  of  the 
problem  of  optical  munitions  was  a  vital  matter  in  the  early  days  of  the 
war. 

With  characteristic  energy.  Great  Britain  set  to  work  and  soon  re- 
stored a  languishing  trade.  The  task  was  enormous;  the  industry  had  to 
be  revived  from  its  very  foundations.  The  production  of  the  peculiar 
types  of  glass  required  for  optical  instruments  in  itself  presented  a  formid- 
able obstacle,  even  its  principal  ingredient,  a  special  quality  of  sand,  being 
formerly  derived  mainly  from  Fontainebleau  and  Belgium.  But  by  wide- 
spread investigation  efficient  substitutes  were  soon  discovered,  the  prob- 
lem of  mixing  the  ingredients  was  at  length  solved,  formulae  for  special 
glasses  devised,  and  we  are  now  producing  large  quantities  of  optical 
glass  of  perfect  quality.  The  production  of  the  raw  material  was,  how- 
e\'er,  only  a  first  step  in  obtaining  an  adequate  supply  of  optical  instru- 
ments. 

Numbers  of  delicate  processes  stand  between  the  rough  glass  and  the 
finished  implement.  The  glass  must  be  cut,  ground,  and  curved  exactly 
to  the  requisite  design,  which  in  itself  takes  many  days  of  high  mathemati- 
cal computation;  it  must  be  smoothed  and  polished,  cleaned  with  meticulous 
care,  and  adjusted  to  a  nicety  in  the  particular  instrument  for  which  it  is 
fashioned.  The  difKculties  and  pitfalls  are  incalculable;  from  start  to 
finish  the  glass  obeys  no  fixed  laws,  but  answers  only  to  the  skilled  handling 
of  the  scientist  and  craftsman.  'Optical  glass  is  the  mule  of  materials', 
comments  a  recent  writer  with  sincerity. 

The  absence  of  requisite  labour  for  what  was  practically  a  new  indus- 
try was  a  serious  menace,  and  it  is  to  the  credit  of  Englishwomen  that,  as 
soon  as  the  need  for  their  services  in  this  direction  was  made  known, 
they  stepped  without  hesitation  into  this  unfamiliar  and  highly  skilled 
industry.  Their  success  therein  is  remarkable,  and  many,  from  such  call- 
ings as  high-class  domestic  service,  kindergarten  instruction,  music  teach- 
ing, blouse  and  dressmaking,  have  achieved  a  wonderful  record  in  the 
delicate  and  highly  technical  processes  of  lens-smoothing  and  polishing  and 
in  the  production  of  prisms  of  faultless  polish  and  cut. 

There  is,  I  take  it,  no  more  interesting  munitions  development  than  in 
factories  where  these  lenses  and  prisms  are  produced.  The  work  is  so  fine 
and  so  delicate  that  one  feels  it  might  be  more  suitably  transferred  for 
manipulation  to  elves,  or  fairy  folk,  who  might  undertake  the  various  proc- 
esses standing  at  a  large-sized  toad-stool.  But  with  the  stern  reality  of 
war  upon  us,  willing  feminine  fingers  have  had  to  be  trained  to  handle 
these  lenses,  the  smallest  of  which,  when  ranged  in  trays,  resemble  a  collec- 


32  THE  WOMAN'S  PART 

tion  of  dewdrops,  and  the  largest  of  which  would  easily  fill  the  port-hole 
of  an  ocean-liner. 

Optical  glass  when  it  comes  into  the  workshop  has  the  appearance  of 
small  blocks  of  rough  ice  of  a  greyish  hue.  These  blocks  are  roughly 
sliced  and  cut  into  shape  by  a  rotating  metal  disk  charged  with  diamond 
dust.  The  prisms  and  lenses  in  their  initial  stage  are  then  handed  on  to 
women,  who  complete  the  work  on  their  surfaces.  Each  process  has  its 
particular  lure  for  the  interested  visitor.  You  may  watch  the  slices  of 
glass  being  shaped  into  prisms  by  handwork  against  the  tool;  you  may 
follow  these  embryo  prisms  through  the  various  processes  of  smoothing 
and  polishing  until  a  small  magnifying  prism  is  obtained  for  use  in  a  mag- 
netic compass,  or  until  a  large  prism  is  completed  suitable  for  a  submarine 
periscope.  You  may  follow  the  creation  of  a  lens  from  the  roughing  and 
grinding  of  the  glass  slices  with  emery,  or  carborundum,  until  the  approxi- 
mate shape  is  given,  or  you  may  follow  a  later  process  of  sticking  the 
smaller  lenses  on  to  pitch,  so  that  they  may  form  a  single  surface  for 
smoothing  and  polishing. 

Again,  you  may  watch  the  superlatively  difficult  operation  of  centring 
a  lens.  This  task  is  necessary  to  ensure  the  polished  surfaces  of  the  lens 
running  perfectly  true  and  it  requires  a  skilled  touch  and  a  trained  eye 
to  undertake  it  satisfactorily. 

In  a  shop  in  a  certain  optical  munitions  factory  I  met  the  first  woman 
who  worked  a  centring  machine  in  that  area.  She  was  formerly  a  house- 
maid, and  told  me  that,  at  first,  all  the  men  had  discouraged  her  from  the 
job  and  had  said  It  was  'impossible  for  a  woman  to  do  such  work'.  But 
she  'stuck  it' — so  she  said — and  in  a  few  weeks,  to  her  own  surprise  and 
the  men's  dismay,  this  peculiarly  skilled  job  became  familiar  to  her.  'Now 
I  feel  I  am  doing  something,'  she  said  In  triumph.  This  sentiment  was 
echoed  by  another  worker  in  that  factory  who  was  accomplishing  the 
surprising  task  of  'chamfering',  or  putting  a  tiny  bevel  onto  the  edge 
of  a  lens. 

The  large  lenses  measure  only  2  Inches  In  diameter;  the  smaller  ones 
are  about  the  size  of  a  threepenny  bit,  and  every  operation,  whether 
grinding,  trueing,  smoothing,  polishing,  or  centring,  must  be  accomplished 
with  the  utmost  care.  Even  the  final  process  In  the  manufacture  of  the 
lens  or  prism,  'wiping  off',  is  fraught  with  responsibility  to  the  operator. 
'Wiping  oft,'  or  cleaning  the  lens,  can  only  be  done  with  a  silken  duster, 
for  the  finished  glass,  like  a  dainty  lady,  will  tolerate  the  touch  of  nothing 
coarse. 

In  cases  where  the  glass  Is  graticulated,  or  marked  with  fine  lines  for 
measurement  purposes,  the  task  of  'wiping  off'  Is  of  extraordinary  diffi- 


THE  WOMAN'S  PART  33 

culty;  in  the  opinion  of  at  least  one  foreman  with  whom  I  have  discussed 
this  question,  the  operation  Is  only  perfectly  successful  when  performed 
by  a  girl's  fingers.  It  Is  of  supreme  Importance  that  no  speck  of  dirt  or 
hint  of  grease  from  a  finger-mark  be  left  on  the  glass  when  finally  adjusted, 
or  the  Instrument  would  become  a  source  of  danger  to  the  user.  No 
wonder  that  the  feeling  of  the  optical  Instrument  workshop  expresses  Itself 
in  the  words:    'Cleanliness  is  more  than  godliness  at  this  job.' 

The  completed  glass  at  length  reaches  the  stage  where  It  Is  set  in  Its 
Instrument,  be  It  periscope,  dial-sight,  telescope,  and  so  on.  Although  the 
most  exact  measurements  have  been  observed  both  In  the  metal  part  and  on 
the  glass,  small  adjustments  are  necessary;  for  the  fit  must  be  so  perfect 
that  even  If  the  metal  case  suffers  shell-shock,  the  glass  must  still  not 
rattle.  But  it  is  the  metal  alone  which  Is  submitted  to  alteration,  and  It  Is 
wonderful  how  women  have  been  able  to  obtain  sufficient  dexterity  to 
make  these  infinitesimal  changes  In  the  metal  parts.  One  can  see  a  mere 
girl  undertaking  such  a  task  by  giving  the  metal  three  or  four  delicate 
strokes  from  a  file  so  fine  that  it  would  not  hurt  a  baby's  skin.  Meantime, 
the  lens  or  prism  is  finally  examined  (also  by  women)  for  size,  scratches, 
and  other  Imperfections,  and  Is  then  re-cleaned.  Girls  and  women  take 
a  full  share  In  the  production  of  the  metal  parts  for  the  optical  instruments 
and  also  assemble,  or  collect  the  parts,  for  the  adjustment  of  the  glass, 
but  so  far  they  do  not  generally  adjust  or  test  the  completed  instrument. 

The  operations  used  In  the  production  of  optical  Instruments  for  war 
purposes  are,  of  course,  similar  to  those  required  in  the  manufacture  of 
Implements  used  in  peace-time,  such  as  opera-glasses,  telescopes,  micro- 
scopes, surveying  Instruments,  photographic  and  cinematograph  apparatus, 
&c.,  and  it  is  expected  that  women  who  have  entered  the  new  war-time 
Industry  will  happily  find  themselves,  when  peace  dawns,  in  possession  of 
a  permanent  means  of  livelihood  In  a  skilled  occupation. 

In  the  Shipyards 

'Ships,  ships,  and  still  ships' :  such  is  the  main  need  of  the  Allies  in 
this,  the  fourth  year  of  the  war.  To  answer  this  demand,  every  dockyard 
In  the  country  Is  working  at  the  highest  pressure.  Into  this  work,  strange 
as  it  may  seem  to  those  familiar  with  the  rough-and-tumble  life  of  a  ship- 
yard, women  have  penetrated  and  have  so  far  surmounted  all  obstacles 
in  the  tasks  to  which  they  have  been  allocated. 

At  first,  dilution  In  shipyards  was  looked  upon  as  a  hazardous  experi- 
ment. The  work  Is  mostly  heavy  and  clumsy,  and  the  type  of  men  under- 
taking It,  splendid  fellows  enough  In  their  physique  and  general  outlook, 


34  THE  WOMAN'S  PART 

are  mainly  accustomed  to  dealings  with  the  boisterous  elements  and  with 
men  comrades  of  their  own  pattern.  Their  attitude  towards  women, 
it  was  feared,  would  make  for  trouble  immediately  that  the  other  sex  was 
introduced  as  fellow-workers.  Even  the  most  optimistic  amongst  ship- 
builders were  aghast  at  the  idea  of  women  working  shoulder  to  shoulder 
with  men  on  board  ship.  Yet  here  and  there  a  pioneer  employer  has 
arisen,  and  the  experiment  has  been  tried.     It  is  succeeding  unquestionably. 

I  have  been  into  the  shipyards  and  seen  the  amazing  sight  and  am 
convinced  of  its  expediency,  at  all  events  as  a  war-time  measure.  Special 
care  must,  of  course,  be  taken  in  the  planning  and  the  supervision  of 
women's  work  on  board  ship,  but  given  the  right  type  of  inspectress,  charge 
hand,  and  workers,  there  is  no  reason  why  women  should  not,  in  increasing 
numbers,  fill  the  gaps  in  the  shipyards,  as  in  the  factories.  The  women 
chosen  to  undertake  such  tasks  are  well  aware  of  the  service  they  are 
rendering  to  the  nation  at  this  juncture,  and  to  the  women  workers  the 
first  day  on  board  ship  is  one  of  supreme  happiness.  'They  are  so  excited 
when  they  actually  get  on  board,'  said  a  dockyard  inspectress  to  me  re- 
cently 'that  they  forget  all  about  the  difficulties  and  objections  to  the 
work.'  .  It  is  well  that  this  is  so,  for  it  is  not  too  easy  for  the  novice  to 
move  about  below,  even  on  a  big  battleship. 

I  was  taken  over  one  where  the  women  were  working.  It  was  In  a  big 
yard  crammed  with  shipping  of  every  kind — so  full  that  one  could  echo 
the  words  of  the  old  Elizabethan,  who  said  of  a  crowd:  'There  was  not 
room  for  a  snail  to  put  out  its  horns.'  A  stiff  breeze  was  blowing,  and  the 
sea  beyond  ran  full  and  blue.  The  great  battleship  along  the  dock  lay 
serene  and  stately,  bearing,  as  it  were,  with  grim  humour  the  meddlesome 
tappings  and  chippings  of  Impertinent  human  beings,  who  presumed  to 
furbish  her  up.  There  were  men  on  the  conning-tower,  busy  with  paint- 
pots,  and  there  was  a  tangle  of  ropes  and  pots  on  the  upper  decks  where  the 
guns  were  biding  their  time.  Men  were  calling  lustily  to  each  other,  and 
were  darting  here  and  there  as  brisk  and  wholesome  as  the  breeze. 

'We  go  down  here,'  said  the  inspectress,  pointing  to  a  ladder  as  steep  as 
the  side  of  a  house.  She  bounded  down  with  the  ease  of  an  antelope.  An- 
other ladder,  and  yet  another.  The  inspectress  seemed  to  have  forgotten 
their  steep  incline  and  I  was  left,  a  helpless  landlubber,  cautiously  descend- 
ing step  by  step.  When  I  joined  her  in  the  engine-room  she  was  already 
deep  in  conversation  with  one  of  her  staff.  And  then  I  noticed  the  secret 
aid  to  her  agility.  All  the  women  aboard  ship  were  dressed  in  trouser 
suits.  The  suits,  of  blue  drill  for  the  supervisors,  and  of  a  similar  material 
in  brown  for  the  labourers,  were  made  with  a  short  tunic,  and  the  trousers 
were  buckled  securely  at  the  ankle.  A  tight-fitting  cap  to  match  completed 


THE  WOMAN'S  PART  35 

the  smart  workmanlike  costume  which  permits  of  perfect  freedom  of 
movement  in  confined  places.  Without  such  a  costume  it  would  be  hardly 
possible  for  women  to  work  on  board. 

The  women  workers  on  this  particular  battleship  were  engaged  in 
renewing  electric  wires  and  fittings,  a  job  which  requires  a  good  deal  of 
care  and  accuracy.  On  the  lower  deck,  they  were  fitting  up  new  cables  and 
were  perched  in  high  places,  here  'sweating  in'  a  distribution  box,  there 
marking  off  the  position  for  the  wires.  Others  were  drilling  holes,  others 
again  were  'tapping',  or  making  a  thread  in  the  holes.  In  the  engine- 
room  the  women  were  busy  stripping  worn-out  electric  wiring  and  were 
working  by  the  light  of  tall  candles,  as  merry  as  a  party  preparing  a  Christ- 
mas tree. 

Everywhere  the  women  were  working  in  pairs,  an  arrangement  found 
especially  advisable  on  board.  Behind  a  small  iron  door  we  found  one 
couple  working  on  a  fire-control  in  a  nook  where  the  entrance  of  a  single 
visitor  caused  bad  overcrowding.  'These  are  my  mice',  said  the  inspec- 
tress;  'they  always  get  away  into  the  cupboard-jobs,  and  very  well  they 
work  there  too.  But  we  have  to  maintain  a  strict  discipline  on  board,  far 
stricter  than  anything  known  in  the  factories.' 

No  talking,  I  was  informed,  is  allowed  in  that  dockyard,  during  the 
working  hours  on  board,  between  the  sailors  or  men  labourers  and  the 
women  and  there  is  constant  supervision  of  the  women  employed.  These 
work  on  board  in  parties  of  20-22,  each  party  being  under  the  care  of  a 
charge  hand.  When  the  staff  included  three  charge  hands  for  supervision 
on  board,  an  inspectress  was  appointed  for  this  special  branch  of  the  work. 
The  system  seems  to  work  well,  and  I  noticed  how  the  men  and  women 
had  evidently  accepted  each  other  as  comrades.  Coming  into  a  secluded 
gangway  a  man-labourer,  who  had  finished  his  job,  was  unconcernedly 
shaving  before  a  square  of  mirror,  while  two  or  three  women  just  beyond 
went  on,  just  as  unconcernedly,  tap,  tapping  at  the  electric  fittings.  There 
was  no  chaffing,  no  'larking',  between  the  men  and  women,  but  a  sense 
of  comradeship,  such  as  one  notices  in  a  Co-education  School. 

The  women  on  electric-wiring  receive,  in  that  dockyard,  one  month's 
instruction  on  dummy  bulk-heads  before  going  on  board;  their  instructors 
— expert  men — accompany  them  to  the  number  of  two  to  every  party 
of  twenty  or  so,  and  remain  with  them  for  ten  to  twelve  months.  After 
that,  the  women  are.  able  to  work  without  an  instructor,  and  I  was  an  eye- 
witness to  this  arrangement  on  a  cargo  vessel,  where  electric  wiring  was 
also  being  undertaken. 

Besides  the  work  on  board,  women  in  dockyards  are  employed  in  the 
various  engineering  shops  where  almost  every  description  of  construction 


36  THE  WOMAN'S  PART 

and  repair  work  for  vessels  is  undertaken.  I  have  seen  numbers  of  women 
at  work  in  such  an  electrical  department,  winding  armatures,  making  parts 
for  firing-gear,  polishing,  or  buffing  and  repairing  electrical  apparatus,  &c. 
The  work  in  such  a  repair  section  is  full  of  interest  and  variety.  From  day 
to  day  the  operators  receive  consignments  of  electrical  apparatus  damaged 
on  board  by  the  elements,  or  worse.  Great  dispatch  is  needed,  and  the 
women  work  with  the  utmost  zeal  and  efficiency.  I  noticed  them  under- 
taking such  varying  operations  as  lackering  guards  for  lamps  and  radiator 
fronts,  repairing  junction  and  section  boxes,  fire-control  instruments, 
automatic  searchlights,  &c.,  and  they  were  turning  out  their  work,  the 
foreman  said,  just  like  men.  In  the  constructional  department,  women 
are  now  employed  in  making  bulkhead  pieces,  or  metal-work  ol  various 
kinds,  in  oxy-acetylene  welding,  and  occasionally  in  the  foundry. 

When  it  is  recollected  that  before  the  war  only  elderly  women — the 
grandmothers — were,  generally  speaking,  employed  in  the  dockyards,  and 
those  only  on  such  ornamental  tasks  as  flag-making  or  upholstery  for 
yachts,  it  is  hardly  credible  that  the  granddaughters  are  now  working 
successfully  on  intricate  processes  and  even  at  jobs  where  physical  strength 
is  a  qualification.  'We  can  hardly  believe  our  eyes,'  said  a  foreman 
recently,  'when  we  see  the  heavy  stuff  brought  to  and  from  the  shops  in 
motor  lorries  driven  by  girls.  Before  the  war  it  was  all  carted  by  horses 
and  men.  The  girls  do  the  job  all  right  though,  and  the  only  thing  they 
ever  complain  about  is  that  their  toes  get  cold.'  'They  don't  now',  said  a 
strapping  young  woman-driver,  overhearing  the  conversation.  'We've 
got  hot-water  tins.'  Then,  in  a  low  voice,  for  my  ears  alone,  'I  love  my 
work,  it's  ever  so  interesting.' 

It  is  this  note  that  one  finds  above  all,  amongst  the  women  in  the 
dockyards.  The  spirit  of  the  sea,  the  almost  forgotten  heritage  of  an 
island  population,  has  been  stirred  once  more,  and  the  sight  of  the  good 
ships  in  harbour  thrills  the  woman-worker,  as  the  man,  with  a  sense  of 
independence,  freedom,  and  love  for  'this  England,  .  .  .  this  precious 
stone  set  in  the  silver  sea'. 

No  wonder  that  Englishwomen  find  their  work  in  the  dockyards  'ever 
so  Interesting'. 


CUTTING  FR.\YED-EDGED  TAPE 


BRAZING  TURBINE  ROTOR  SEGMENT 


MOUNTING  CARDS  FOR  DRY  COMPASSES 


TUEADLi:   I'OLISHING-MACHINES,  FOR  SMOOTHING  LENSES 


CHAPTER  V:  COMFORT  AND  SAFETY 

WELFARE  SUPERVISION— PROTECTIVE  CLOTHING— REST-ROOMS  AND  FIRST 

AID— WOMEN  POLICE 

THE  problems  arising  from  the  sudden  employment  of  thousands  of 
women  in  the  factories  have  obviously  been  connected  not  only 
with  the  technical  training  of  the  workers  and  with  the  adaptation 
of  machinery  to  their  physical  strength.  Something  had  to  be  done,  and 
that  without  delay,  to  ensure  the  comfort  and  safety  in  the  workshops  of 
these  new-comers  to  industrial  life. 

In  the  first  great  rush  for  an  increased  munitions  supply,  war  emergency 
dictated  the  temporary  suppression  of  the  Factory  Acts.  There  was  no 
demur  within  the  factory  gates.  Women  worked  without  hesitation  from 
twelve  to  fourteen  hours  a  day,  or  a  night,  for  seven  days  a  week,  and  with 
the  voluntary  sacrifice  of  public  holidays.  Their  home  conditions  in 
a  vast  number  of  cases  offered  no  drop  of  consolation.  Many  of  these 
women  were  immigrants  from  remote  corners  of  the  Empire,  or  from  far- 
away towns  and  villages  of  the  United  Kingdom.  Housing  accommodation 
in  crowded  industrial  areas,  or  in  a  thinly  populated  countryside,  was 
strained  to  breaking-point.  Undaunted,  these  workers — many  of  whom 
had  previously  led  an  entirely  sheltered  life — rose  before  dawn  to  travel 
long  distances  to  the  factory,  and  returned  to  take  alternative  possession 
with  a  night-shift  worker  of  a  part  share  of  a  bedroom.  The  shameful 
conditions  to  which  the  factory  children  were  subjected  at  the  period  of 
the  Industrial  Revolution  seemed  about  to  return. 

Welfare  Supervision 

Such  a  state  of  things  could  not  be  tolerated,  and  Mr.  Lloyd  George, 
then  Minister  of  Munitions,  grasped  the  situation.  'The  workers  of  to-day', 
he  said,  'are  the  mothers  of  to-morrow.  In  a  war  of  workshops  the  women 
of  Britain  were  needed  to  save  Britain;  it  was  for  Britain  to  protect 
them.'  Measures  were  immediately  adopted  to  improve  the  conditions 
of  the  workers  in  the  factory.  K  Departmental  Committee  was  appointed 
to  consider  all  questions  relating  to  the  health  of  munition  workers,  and  at 

37 


38  THE  WOMAN'S  PART 

the  Ministry  of  Munitions,  on  their  recommendation,  a  Welfare  and 
Health  Department  was  established,  charged  with  'securing  a  high  stand- 
ard of  conditions  for  all  workers  in  munitions  factories  and  more  especially 
for  the  women  and  juvenile  employees'.  Since  then,  step  by  step  the  ma- 
chinery is  being  set  in  motion  for  improving  the  conditions  of  life  of 
munition  workers. 

Yet  Welfare  work  in  the  factory  is  no  new  thing  in  England.  In  pre- 
war days  it  had  not,  it  Is  true,  reached  as  widespread  a  development  as  In 
the  United  States,  but  as  long  ago  as  1792  it  was  in  practice  in  this  country 
under  another  name.  It  is  recorded  of  that  period  of  one  David  Dale, 
whose  factory  was  a  model  to  his  contemporaries,  that  he  'gave  his  money 
by  shovelfuls  to  his  employees'  to  find  that  'God  shovelled  it  back  again.' 
From  the  early  part  of  the  nineteenth  century,  sporadic  attempts  were 
successfully  made  to  improve  the  conditions  of  the  factory  workers  over 
and  above  the  requirements  of  legislation,  and  before  19 14  a  number  of 
enlightened  factory  owners  had  won  renown  by  the  practice  of  Welfare 
work  within  their  precincts.  The  seal  of  official  sanction  has,  however, 
only  been  gained  since  the  war,  through  the  influx  of  women  Into  munitions 
trades.^ 

The  Health  of  Munitions  Workers  Committee  has,  since  its  Inception, 
investigated  at  factory  after  factory  such  questions  as  the  employment  of 
women,  hours  of  labour,  Sunday  labour,  juvenile  employment,  industrial 
fatigue,  canteen  equipment,  the  dietary  of  workers.  It  has  published  its 
conclusions  in  memoranda,  stripped  bare  of  officialism,  so  as  to  reveal  with 
frankness    facts  acquired  by  scientists  in  touch  with  reality. 

Working  in  connexion  with  this  Committee  is  the  Welfare  and  Health 
Department  of  the  Ministry  of  Munitions.  It  follows  closely  the  sugges- 
tions of  the  experts,  its  Welfare  officers  moving  up  and  down  the  country, 
now  offering  a  suggestion  to  the  management  of  a  factory,  and  again, 
assimilating  some  practical  experiment  in  Welfare  work,  originated  by 
a  progressive  factory-directorate.  Thus,  a  pooling  of  ideas  Is  being 
effected,  and  Isolated  experiments  of  value  are  now  being  propagated 
throughout  the  country. 

But  possibly  one  of  the  most  valuable  tasks  of  the  Welfare  and  Health 
Department  Is  the  selection  and  training  of  candidates  for  the  work  of 
Welfare  Supervision  in  the  factories.  A  panel  of  approved  candidates  is 
kept  In  readiness,  so  that  a  busy  factory-manager  may  have  at  hand  a  choice 
of  Welfare  workers  who  will,  if  necessary,  undertake  the  entire  supervision 

^Welfare  work  has  since  been  officially  extended  to  factories  other  than  those  engaged  in 
munitions  production  by  Clause  7  of  the  Police,  Factories,  &c.  (Miscellaneous  Provisions)  Act 
(1916) 


THE  WOMAN'S  PART  39 

of  the  personal  Interests  of  his  female,  or  juvenile  staff.  These  officers, 
after  engagement  by  the  factory  management,  are  responsible  solely  to  the 
firms  that  employ  them  and  not  to  the  Ministry  of  Munitions.  In  estab- 
lishments where  T.N.T.  (Tri-nitro-toluene)  is  handled,  the  presence  of  a 
lady  Welfare  Supervisor  is  compulsory;  in  all  National  factories  such  an 
officer  is  recognized  as  a  necessary  part  of  the  staff;  and  in  Controlled 
Establishments,  where  a  number  of  female  operators  are  employed,  the 
management  is  officially  encouraged  to  make  such  an  appointment. 

In  many  cases,  engineering  shops  are  for  the  first  time  employing  female 
operators,  and  the  management  depute  with  relief  all  questions  as  to  the 
personal  requirements  of  the  'new  labour'  to  the  lady  superintendent; 
in  other  instances,  such  matters  as  the  engagement  of  the  employees, 
canteen  arrangements,  and  so  on,  are  placed  in  the  hands  of  other  officials. 
Hence,  the  duties  of  the  lady  Welfare  Supervisor  differ  from  factory  to 
factory.  Generally  speaking,  the  supervisor,  or  lady  superintendent 
within  the  factory  Is  made  responsible  for  some,  or  all,  of  the  following 
matters : 

1.  She  aids,  or  Is  entirely  responsible  for,  the  selection  of  women,  girls, 
and  boys  for  employment. 

2.  The  general  behaviour  of  the  women  and  girls  inside  the  factory 
falls  under  her  purview. 

3.  The  transfer  of  a  woman  employee  from  one  process  to  another  Is 
suggested  by  the  Welfare  Supervisor  where  health  considerations  make 
such  an  alteration  advisable. 

4.  She  is  consulted  on  general  grounds  with  regard  to  the  dismissal  of 
women  and  girls. 

5.  Factory  conditions  come  under  her  observation,  and  reports  are 
made,  when  necessary,  to  the  management,  on  the  cleanliness,  ventilation, 
or  warmth  of  the  establishment. 

6.  The  necessity  of  the  provision  of  seats  Is  suggested,  where  this  is 
possible. 

7.  In  large  factories,  where  the  canteen  Is  under  separate  management, 
the  Welfare  Supervisor  reports  as  to  whether  the  necessary  facilities  are 
available  for  the  women  employees.  In  smaller  factories,  the  Welfare 
Supervisor  may  be  called  upon  to  manage  the  canteen. 

8.  While  not  responsible,  except  in  small  factories,  for  actual  attention 
to  accidents,  the  Welfare  Supervisor  works  in  close  touch  with  the  factory 
doctors  and  nurses.  She  also  helps  in  the  selection  of  the  nurses,  and  should 
see  that  their  work  is  carried  out  promptly.  She  supervises  the  keeping 
of  all  records  of  accidents  and  Illness  in  the  ambulance  room,  and  of  all 
maternity  cases  noted  in  the  factory.     She  keeps  in  touch  with  all  cases 


40  THE  WOMAN'S  PART 

of  serious  accident  or  illness  and  with  the  Compensation  Department  inside 
the  works. 

9.  She  supervises  cloak-rooms  and  selects  the  staff  of  attendants  neces- 
sary for  these. 

10.  The  protective  clothing  supplied  to  the  women  at  work  comes 
under  her  supervision. 

In  large  establishments  where  the  female  and  juvenile  staff  Is  counted 
by  the  thousand,  these  multifarious  duties  are  necessarily  divided  among 
many  individuals,  and  the  Welfare  work  within  the  factory  (Intra-mural 
Welfare,  as  it  is  now  termed)  develops  into  a  Department.  A  typical 
example  of  such  an  evolution  may  be  seen  at  the  Royal  Arsenal,  Woolwich. 
In  pre-war  days,  the  female  staff  numbered  125;  to-day  some  25,000 
women  are  there  at  work. 

The  Welfare  supervision  is  happily  In  charge  of  a  super-woman.  In 
addition  to  her  manifold  duties  she  has  trained  a  staff  of  assistants  who, 
like  herself,  spare  no  effort  to  promote  the  health  and  happiness  of  those 
under  their  care.  I  have  stood  many  an  hour  in  this  super-woman's  office 
and  watched  her,  surrounded  by  a  throng  of  workers,  fitting  new-comers 
into  vacancies,  listening  to  reasons  from  others  for  a  desired  transference, 
or  advising  as  to  work,  or  meals,  health,  or  recreation.  No  girl  was  refused 
a  hearing,  however  trivial  the  difficulty,  and  a  grievance  as  to  the  colour 
of  a  factory  cap  was  discussed  with  as  much  attention  with  one  employee 
as  the  causes  of  a  'shop'  disagreement  was  with  another  complainant. 
I  have  accompanied  her  on  visits  through  the  works  (the  entire  tour  would 
take  almost  a  week  to  accomplish),  and  have  noted  the  diplomacy  with 
which  a  suggested  Improvement  in  ventilation,  or  a  needed  cloak-room 
alteration,  was  discussed  with  the  official  In  charge,  and  carried  through. 
I  have  seen  the  faces  of  rows  of  workers  light  up  as  this  modern  Florence 
Nightingale  passed  through  their  shop,  and  have  walked  through  the 
Danger  Zone  amazed  at  the  arrangements  for  the  protection  of  the  worker. 

What  is  true  of  the  life  in  such  large  concerns  as  Woolwich  Arsenal,  or 
His  Majesty's  Factory,  Gretna,  is  typical  on  a  large  scale  of  the  develop- 
ment of  Welfare  work  in  many  a  munitions  factory  throughout  the  king- 
dom. Protective  clothing  has  been  unlv^ersally  adopted,  ambulance-rooms 
and  rest-rooms  have  been  opened,  cloak-room  accommodation  improved, 
canteens  established,  sane  recreation  encouraged,  and  the  protection  of 
a  women-police  service  introduced.  In  short,  an  atmosphere  is  being 
introduced  by  which  the  old-time  barrier  between  employer  and  employed 
is  being  helped  to  disappear. 


THE  WOMAN'S  PART  41 

Protective  Clothing 

So  much  has  been  accompHshed  since  the  advent  of  women  in  the 
munitions  factories  with  regard  to  protective  clothing  for  the  worker  that 
the  subject  might  well  fill  a  chapter  to  itself.  A  separate  Department  in 
the  Ministry  of  Munitions  now  concerns  itself  solely  with  its  supply,  and 
is  continually  experimenting  with  improvements  in  aprons,  gloves,  boots, 
caps,  and  tunics.  Cotton  overalls  are  now  generally  worn  by  the  women 
employees  and  much  thought  has  been  given  to  the  production  of  these 
garments  in  suitable  materials  and  design.  They  are  made  with  firmly 
stitched  belts  and  with  inset  pockets,  so  as  to  avert  accidents  by  contact 
of  loose  ends  in  the  machinery,  and  are  more  often  in  the  popular  shades 
of  khaki,  or  brown,  with  scarlet  facings,  or  dark  blue  faced  with  crimson. 
But  there  is  no  set  rule  either  as  to  colour,  or  design,  so  long  as  the  principle 
of  protection  is  followed. 

Caps,  which  at  first  were  much  disliked  by  the  workers,  have  at  length 
found  general  favour,  not,  it  is  true,  by  reason  of  the  immunity  they  offer 
against  accident,  but  because  they  have  been  fashioned  so  as  to  add  'chic' 
to  the  wearer.  They  are  usually  of  the  'Mob,'  or  'Dutch'  variety,  and 
match  the  overall  in  colour  and  texture;  they  are  all  designed  so  that 
there  is  no  pressure  round  the  head.  Sometimes,  the  cap  of  safety  has 
been  skilfully  used  as  a  mark  of  distinction,  and  one  may  see,  in  a  shop 
staffed  by  women,  the  operators  at  the  machines  in  khaki  headgear,  the 
setters-up  of  machines  in  scarlet  caps,  and  the  overlookers  or  inspectors 
of  the  product  in  bright  blue  head-dress. 

For  wet  and  dusty  work  there  are  trouser  suits  in  cotton,  woollen, 
or  mackintosh,  or  tunic  suits  with  knee  breeches  and  leggings,  or  gaiters. 
Mackintosh  coats  are  also  provided  for  outdoor  work  in  shipyards,  or  for 
trucking  and  lorrying,  or  for  overhead  crane-work  within  the  factory. 

Acid-proof  and  oil-proof  aprons  are  now  furnished  for  certain  opera- 
tions, and  for  other  processes  specially  prepared  gloves  are  supplied.  The 
varieties  in  workshop  gloves  are  now  very  great;  they  are  made  in  such 
materials  as  india-rubber,  canvas,  or  leather,  or  a  union  of  these  three, 
or  in  teon-faced  canvas  or  teon-faced  leather.  So'me  are  cuffless;  others, 
for  work  in  acids,  have  turned-up  cuffs,  and  others  again  are  gauntlets 
reaching  the  elbow.  In  every  case,  the  process  for  which  they  are  provided 
is  minutely  studied,  and  the  fashion  adopted  is  dictated  by  utility. 

Footgear  has  also  received  a  considerable  amount  of  attention,  and 
there  are  now  available  Wellington  boots,  or  half-Wellingtons,  for  outdoor 
work,  or  wooden  clogs  for  processes  in  the  shops  where  the  flooring  is 
apt  to  become  persistently  wet. 


42  THE  WOMAN'S  PART 

But,  possibly,  factory  fashions  receive  most  care  when  designed  for 
wearers  in  Filling  shops.  For  these,  suits  in  wool  lasting-cloth  are  found 
satisfactory,  the  most  popular  and  smartest  being  in  cream-colour,  faced 
with  scarlet.  Fire-proofed  blue  serge  overalls  and  asbestos  coats  with  caps 
of  the  same  material  are  also  employed  in  certain  of  these  factories.  For 
work  in  the  Danger  Zone  no  metal  fasteners  are  permissible,  and  the  coat, 
or  overall,  is  cut  so  as  to  protect  the  neck  and  throat  from  contact  with 
the  powder  used  in  the  process. 

Boots  and  shoes  for  this  type  of  work  are  also  specially  designed.  No 
iron  must  enter  into  their  composition,  the  soles  being  either  machine- 
sewn,  or  riveted  with  brass.  Sometimes,  cloth  and  india-rubber  over- 
shoes are  the  chosen  footwear  of  the  Danger  Zone,  and  in  this  case  the 
fasteners  must  also  be  free  from  iron.  These  precautions  are  no  mere 
fad,  but  essential  safeguards  where  friction  between  a  fragment  of  iron 
and  a  combustible  powder  might  lead  to  an  explosion.  Respirators,  and 
in  some  cases  veils,  are  also  needful  accessories  of  the  Filling  factory,  and 
these  too  are  provided  for  the  workers. 

A  complete  factory  uniform  has  thus  evolved  since  the  war:  it  is 
a  model  of  suitable  clothing  for  industrial  work.  Arising  from  within 
the  workshops  to  meet  essential  needs,  these  fashions  are  not  only  free 
from  vulgarity,  or  eccentricity,  but  have  a  distinct  beauty  of  their  own. 
It  is  unlikely  that  women,  once  accustomed  to  the  comfort  and  cleanliness 
of  such  garments,  will  desire  to  return  to  the  discredited  habit  of  tarnished 
finery  worn  at  work. 

Rest-Rooms  and  First  Aid 

Ambulance  and  First-Aid  work  within  the  factory  was  not  unusual  even 
In  pre-war  days.  Since  the  development  of  munitions  production  it  has 
become  almost  a  commonplace,  and  from  December  i,  19 17,  Its  provision 
has  been  obligatory  in  blast  furnaces,  foundries,  copper-mills,  iron- 
mills,  and  metal  works.  Where  T.N.T.  is  handled,  the  employment  of  at 
least  one  whole-time  medical  officer  is  compulsory,  if  the  employees  number 
2,000,  and,  if  In  excess  of  that  figure,  at  least  one  additional  medical 
officer  must  be  employed.  The  professional  work  of  these  doctors  is 
supervised  by  the  medical  officers  of  the  Welfare  and  Health  Department, 
who  also  in  a  similar  way  supervise  the  safety  of  workers  employed  upon 
the  manufacture  of  lethal  gases. 

The  extra  expense  involved  in  the  provision  of  such  safeguards  is  by 
no  means  unproductive.  In  one  factory,  for  example.  It  has  been  estimated 
that  2,500  hours  were  saved  in  a  single  week  by  prompt  attention  to  minor 


THE  WOMAN'S  PART  43 

ailments;  in  another  factory,  where  the  firm  meets  all  smaller  claims  for 
Workmen's  Compensation,  it  was  found  that  in  a  period  of  eighteen  months 
following  the  establishment  of  a  First-Aid  organization,  a  credit  balance 
of  nearly  £500  accrued  to  the  management  after  all  expenses  connected 
with  the  factory  doctor  and  the  nurses  had  been  defrayed. 

Tribute  should  be  paid  to  the  medical  staff  for  their  share  in  the  triumph 
of  First-Aid  work  within  the  munitions  factory,  for  without  their  extraordi- 
nary devotion  the  record  of  misadventure  would  undoubtedly  be  higher. 
One  hears  from  time  to  time  how,  in  a  temporary  breakdown  of  such 
a  staff,  a  single  worker  will  hold  the  fort.  A  typical  case  is  recorded  in 
the  press  as  I  write.  It  tells  of  a  young  nurse  who  worked  shifts  of 
twenty-four  hours  at  a  stretch,  for  a  fortnight,  during  the  absence  of  her 
colleagues. 

The  development  of  the  factory  rest-room  and  cloak-room  has  also 
been  a  marked  feature  in  the  munitions  factories  where  women  are  em- 
ployed. Formerly,  it  was  usual  to  see  the  women  workers'  outdoor  gar- 
ments hung  round  the  workshop  walls;  to-day,  in  numbers  of  munitions 
works,  the  women's  cloak-rooms  are  provided  with  cupboards  where  hot 
pipes  dry  wet  boots  and  clothing,  where  each  girl  has  her  own  locker  with 
lock  and  key,  and  where  the  maximum  of  wash-hand  basins  supplied  with 
hot  and  cold  water  are  set  up.  In  T.N.T.  workshops  compulsory  washing 
facilities  are  even  more  elaborate.  Bath-rooms  are  available,  as  well  as 
a  generous  supply  of  towels,  and  face  ointment,  or  powder,  are  supplied 
as  preventatives  to  any  ill  effects  from  handling  explosives. 

Inside  the  workshops  the  spirit  of  reform  is  equally  apparent;  seats 
are  provided  where  possible,  and  lifting-tackle,  or  sliding  boards,  are  intro- 
duced to  minimize  strain  when  dealing  with  heavy  weights.  Sometimes, 
one  hears  how  such  improvements,  suggested  for  the  women  employees, 
are  extended  to  the  men.  At  a  certain  engineering  works,  for  example, 
where  in  pre-war  days  women  had  never  been  employed,  it  was  suggested 
by  a  Government  official  that  seats  should  be  supplied  for  the  women. 
The  management  looked  askance.  It  would  be  'such  a  bad  example  to 
the  apprentices',  it  was  said.  The  point  was,  however,  pressed,  and  after 
a  short  time  the  suggestion  materialized.  The  manager  then  stated,  with 
surprised  satisfaction,  that  the  seats  'seemed  to  renew  people',  and  he  had 
accordingly  extended  the  improvement  to  the  men. 

Women  Police 

One  of  the  most  recent  developments  in  the  protection  of  women  in 
the   factories   is  the   employment  of   women  police.      In  the   summer   of 


44  THE  WOMAN'S  PART 

191 6,  when  it  was  found  necessary  to  obtain  further  control  and  super- 
vision of  the  women  employees  in  munitions  works,  Sir  Edward  Henry, 
the  Chief  Commissioner  of  Police,  recommended  that  the  Ministry  of 
Munitions  should  apply  to  the  Women  Police  Service  for  a  supply  of 
trained  women  police.  This  request  has  now  created  an  extensive  develop- 
ment of  such  work,  and  to-day  women  police  are  undertaking  numerous 
duties  In  munitions  works.  They  check  the  entry  of  women  into  the  fac- 
tory; examine  passports;  search  for  such  contraband  as  matches,  cigarettes, 
and  alcohol;  deal  with  complaints  of  petty  offences;  assist  the  magistrates 
at  the  police  court,  and  patrol  the  neighbourhood  of  the  factory  with  a 
view  to  the  protection  of  the  women  employed. 

As  many  of  the  works  have  been  erected  in  lonely  places,  and  as  the 
shifts  are  worked  by  night  as  well  as  by  day,  it  can  easily  be  imagined 
what  a  safeguard  to  the  young  employee  Is  the  presence  of  these  female 
guardians  of  the  peace.  Even  within  the  precincts  of  the  factory,  the 
security  assured  by  the  patrolling  police-women  is  of  great  importance, 
since  many  of  the  factories  are  built  on  Isolated  plots  extending  perhaps 
six  miles  from  barrier  to  barrier,  and  within  these  boundaries  women  are 
often  employed  in  isolated  huts,  should  they  be  engaged  on  the  production 
of  explosives.  The  preventive  work  of  the  women  police  Is,  In  these  areas, 
Incalculable. 

In  such  ways,  Welfare  work  has  taken  root  In  the  factories  of  Britain, 
and  In  the  words  of  Mr.  Lloyd  George,  'It  Is  a  strange  Irony,  but  no  small 
compensation,  that  the  making  of  weapons  of  destruction  should  afford 
the  occasion  to  humanize  Industry.     Yet  such  Is  the  case.' 


SLITTING  AND   ROUGHING  OPTICAL  GLASS 


VIEW    OF    CANTEEX    KITCHEN 


WEIGHING  FERRO'CHROME  FOR  ANALYSIS 


CHAPTER  VI:   OUTSIDE  WELFARE 

RECREATION— MOTHERHOOD— THE  FACTORY  NURSERY 

Recreation 

THE  gift  in  the  early  days  of  munitions  development  of  several 
thousands  of  pounds  from  an  Indian  prince,  the  Maharajah  of 
Gwalior,  for  the  benefit  of  munitions  employees,  helped  to  focus 
attention  from  the  outset  on  their  needful  recreation.  The  necessity  fbr 
a  maximum  output,  bringing  in  its  train  long  shifts,  overtime,  and  a 
minimum  of  holidays,  at  first  left  scant  leisure  at  the  munition  girl's  dis- 
posal, yet  it  was  at  once  apparent  that  some  effort  must  be  made  to  render 
that  leisure  healthful  and  invigorating.  As  soon  as  the  Welfare  Super- 
visors took  up  their  positions  in  the  factories  and  came  into  living  touch 
with  the  needs  of  the  women  employed,  requests  found  their  way  to 
the  Ministry  of  Munitions  for  grants  for  recreation  purposes  from  the 
Maharajah's  fund. 

At  first,  'a  piano  for  the  recreation-room  or  canteen'  was  the  more 
general  appeal;  for,  strangely  enough,  after  the  long  hours  in  the  engineer- 
ing shops  the  normal  munitions  girl  craves  most,  not  for  passive  amusement, 
such  as  'the  pictures',  but  for  free  movements  of  her  own  body.  Above 
all,  she  desires  to  dance,  or  to  enjoy  the  rhythm  of  physical  drill,  or,  in  the 
summer,  to  swim  or  dive,  or  to  chase  a  ball  in  one  or  other  of  the  popular 
team  games.  Within  doors,  the  piano  provides,  as  it  were,  a  spring-board 
from  which  she  can  jump  into  a  leisure-time  atmosphere  of  merriment; 
it  is  the  send-off  to  her  dance,  the  guide  to  her  song,  and  the  backbone 
to  the  joy  found  in  the  united  action  of  physical  drill. 

The  piano  once  provided  in  canteen,  or  recreation-room,  you  will 
find  the  munition  girl  footing  it  in  the  dinner-hour,  or  tea-interval,  or 
in  any  other  period  when  she  Is  off  duty.  So  long  as  the  tune  be  bright, 
the  merry-hearted  munition-maker  will  dance  the  old  dances,  or  the  more 
complicated  modern  steps,  as  her  mood  suggests. 

From  self-taught  dancing,  the  desire  for  a  more  perfect  expression  In 
movement  is  a  natural  evolution,   and  In  certain  cases  grants   from  the 

45 


46  THE  WOMAN'S  PART 

Maharajah's  fund  have  defrayed  the  fees  of  dancing  mistress,  or  sports 
Instructor.  Sums  from  the  same  source  have  been  paid  to  assist  the 
organization  of  a  club,  for  the  provision  of  a  recreation-room,  for  the 
erection  of  swings  and  see-saws,  for  the  installation  of  a  swimming-bath, 
for  tools  and  seeds  for  factory  girls'  gardens,  for  dramatic  entertainments, 
for  lectures  for  the  instruction  of  apprentices,  and  in  Ireland,  for  the 
enlargement  of  schools  for  children  of  women  munition  workers. 

Side  by  side  with  these  endeavours,  other  efforts  to  promote  sane 
amusement  for  munition  makers  have  been  fructifying.  Many  an  en- 
lightened factory  employer,  studying  the  problem  of  woman-labour 
within  his  own  works,  has  come  to  the  conclusion  that  'if  women  are 
called  upon  to  work  continuously,  especially  at  repetition  jobs,  their  pleas- 
ure in  life  must  be  kept  alive'.  Being  business  men,  they  have  soon  turned 
the  theory  into  practice,  and  have  encouraged,  started,  and  financed  recrea- 
tion schemes  for  their  own  employees. 

In  Sheffield,  for  example,  successful  dramatic  entertainments  have  been 
given,  the  actors  and  actresses  emerging  from  the  engineering  shops;  near 
Birmingham,  a  firm  has  provided  a  cinema,  an  orchestra,  and  a  dancing- 
room  for  their  workpeople,  and  on  Saturday  evenings,  free  conveyance  in 
an  omnibus  is  arranged  for  those  workers  resident  in  outlying  hostels  and 
married  quarters. 

At  Norwich,  another  firm  has  appointed  a  woman  recreation  officer 
to  teach  the  girls  physical  drill,  dancing,  tennis,  and  other  games.  Dances 
and  a  fancy-dress  ball  have  been  organized  there,  and  in  the  summer, 
tennis,  bowls,  and  cricket  are  played  in  a  large  recreation  ground.  These 
are  but  a  few  instances,  typical  of  the  growing  understanding  amongst 
employers  in  this  country  of  the  value  of  playtime  to  a  women's  staff. 

Outside  the  factory  other  agencies  have  been  at  work,  voluntarily 
attempting  to  provide  rest  and  refreshment  for  the  women  whose  sacrifices 
for  the  war  are  so  great  and  so  patiently  endured.  Such  bodies  as  the 
Young  Women's  Christian  Association  or  local  Civic  Associations  have 
opened  recreation  clubs — sometimes  for  girls  only  and  sometimes  'mixed' 
— where  concerts,  dramatic  entertainments,  and  lectures  are  given,  and 
classes  in  useful  arts  or  games  are  held.  Women  from  the  aristocracy 
and  working  women,  civic  authorities  and  the  clergy,  have  joined  hands 
throughout  the  country  to  help  forward  this  effort  for  the  physical,  spiritual 
and  intellectual  recreation  of  the  munitions  worker. 

The  very  spontaneity  and  eagerness  of  the  movement  have  naturally 
led  here  and  there  to  overlapping,  and  in  the  spring  of  1917  it  was  found 
advisable  to  co-ordinate  local  streams  of  goodwill  and  energy.  A  branch 
of  the  Welfare  and  Health  Department  of  the  Ministry  of  Munitions  was 


THE  WOMAN'S  PART  47 

thus  established  to  keep  In  touch  with  all  agencies  outside  the  factory 
which  deal  with  schemes  regarding  recreation,  sickness,  maternity-cases, 
creches,  housing,  and  transit  facilities.  Extra-mural  Welfare  officers  have 
since  been  appointed  to  undertake  such  duties  In  various  localities.  These 
act  as  liaison  officers  between  existing  associations  of  every  denomination 
In  a  given  district,  and  centralize  all  outside  efforts  for  the  protection 
and  relaxation  of  the  munition  women  of  that  area. 

The  Welfare  officer  at  first  surveys  carefully  the  needs  of  the  district, 
and  institutes  an  Inquiry  as  to  provisions  for  their  satisfaction.  If  neces- 
sary, a  conference  Is  then  called  of  individuals  and  representatives  of 
local  bodies  dealing  with  these  matters,  and  sub-committees  are  appointed 
for  each  part  of  the  work.  When  the  numbers  of  women  workers  are 
comparatively  small  in  a  given  area  and  no  adequate  provision  has  been 
made  for  their  recreation,  a  central  club  Is  often  opened.  In  other  locali- 
ties, existing  clubs,  or  institutions,  are  adapted  to  new  requirements,  or  new 
ones  are  added,  according  to  local  needs.  Where  night  shifts  are  worked 
in  the  local  factories.  It  is  usual  to  arrange  the  open  hours  of  the  club  to 
suit  the  workshop  leisure  hours.  Thus,  a  club  may  be  open  from  6  to  8 
a.m. ;  at  midday,  for  two  hours,  and  again  from  4.30  to  9.30  p.m.  In  such 
cases,  It  is  often  necessary  to  employ  paid  club  managers,  as  well  as  local 
voluntary  help. 

The  clubs,  however,  vary,  both  in  scope  and  management,  the  general 
principle  followed  by  the  Welfare  officer  being  to  ensure  provision  for 
recreation,  and  then  to  leave  the  administration  to  local  effort.  Encourage- 
ment is  given  by  the  Ministry  of  Munitions  to  employers  of  Controlled 
Establishments  and  to  the  management  of  National  factories  to  help  for- 
ward the  movement  for  recreation  for  their  staffs  by  allowing  Treasury 
grants  out  of  excess  profits  to  be  made  towards  approved  schemes.  In 
many  districts  the  grants  are  'pooled'  for  recreation  purposes  for  the 
whole  area.  Recreation  for  the  munition  worker  thus  rests  on  a  secure 
basis.  In  the  winter  months,  dancing,  physical  drill,  theatricals,  games, 
and  classes  are  in  full  swing  In  the  principal  munitions  areas,  and  in  the 
summer,  outdoor  sports  are  encouraged,  as  well  as  the  tending  of  vegetable 
plots  and  flower  gardens. 

Motherhood 

A  more  difficult. task  falling  to  the  'Outside  Welfare'  officer  is  the 
supervision  of  maternity  cases  arising  among  munition  workers.  The  all- 
important  question  of  motherhood  necessarily  crops  up  in  the  factories 
where  hundreds  of  thousands  of  women  are  in  daily  employment.     Num- 


48  THE  WOMAN'S  PART 

bers  of  them  are  wives  of  men  hard  at  work  In  war  mdustrles  at  home; 
others  are  war-widows,  and  while  the  illegitimate  birth-rate  has  not  gone 
up  disproportionately  in  munitions  areas,  the  unmarried  mother,  from 
time  to  time,  presents  a  special  problem. 

The  care  of  the  expectant  mother  necessarily  begins  within  the  factory 
gates.  We  have  so  far  no  published  conclusions  from  an  authoritative 
survey  of  this  question,  such  as  Dr.  Bonnaire  (Chief  Professor  of  Mid- 
wifery at  the  Maternity  Hospital,  Paris)  has  provided  for  France,  yet 
scientific  investigations  and  experiments  undertaken  by  the  Health  of 
Munition  Workers'  Committee  are  in  progress.  As  far  as  possible,  the 
women  Welfare  Supervisors  within  the  works  keep  their  management 
informed  of  maternity  cases  as  they  are  noted,  and,  where  possible,  the 
expectant  mother  is  placed  on  lighter  work. 

No  woman  known  to  be  in  that  condition  is,  after  a  certain  period,  kept 
on  at  night  work,  nor  is  she  allowed  to  work  in  an  explosives  factory,  nor 
yet  to  handle  T.N.T.  'We  send  the  girl  to  the  doctor  and  we  act  on  his 
advice.  If  we  can  keep  her,  we  always  take  her  off  night  work  and  heavy 
machines  and  where  there  is  a  good  deal  of  exertion,'  is  a  report  typical 
of  the  procedure  in  such  cases  in  many  factories.  'It  is  too  risky  for  an 
expectant  mother  to  stay  on  at  all,'  is  a  characteristic  opinion  from  a  Filling 
Factory;  and  from  a  high-explosives  factory  comes  the  verdict  that  an 
expectant  mother  should,  after  a  certain  period,  be  discharged  from  the 
works  in  view  of  the  occasional  occurrence  there  of  small  explosions.  Such 
maternity  cases  are,  when  possible,  transferred,  through  local  agencies, 
to  lighter  national  work  outside  the  factory. 

The  Factory  Nursery 

Closely  connected  with  the  safeguarding  of  motherhood  is  the  case  of 
the  munition  workers'  children  of  pre-school  age.  After  two  months' 
interval  from  the  baby's  birth,  many  of  the  maternity  cases  from  the 
factory  return  to  their  previous  work,  and  the  infant  must,  in  the  mother's 
absence,  be  nursed  by  others.  A  similar  condition  applies  to  the  work  of 
other  mothers  whose  labour  is  required  for  munitions  production. 

It  sometimes  happens  that  in  a  given  area  the  call  to  the  munitions 
factories  has  been  answered  by  practically  all  the  available  women  in  the 
neighbourhood  whose  home  ties  are  light,  and  the  local  labour  reserve  is 
found  amongst  the  women  with  one  or  two  young  children.  If  these 
women  are  to  offer  their  services,  it  is  essential  that  their  young  family 
should  not  be  neglected.  Sometimes,  the  mothers  are  able  to  make  their 
own  arrangements  and  a  'minder',  either  a  relative,  or  a  neighbour,  is 


THE  WOMAN'S  PART  49 

forthcoming,  but,  generally  speaking,  such  a  plan  is  not  satisfactory  In 
a  locality  where  every  active  individual  is  undertaking  urgent  war  work. 

Thus  has  arisen  in  many  districts  the  claim  that  a  nursery  for  munition 
workers'  children  should  be  established.  A  local  association,  or  an  indi- 
vidual, often  finds  it  possible  to  finance  such  a  scheme;  in  other  cases, 
monetary  aid  is  required  and  obtained  from  the  Ministry  of  Munitions. 
In  the  latter  circumstances,  the  Ministry  of  Munitions,  co-operating  with 
the  Board  of  Education,  grants  75  per  cent,  of  the  approved  expenditure 
on  the  initial  provision  and  equipment  of  the  nursery,  as  well  as  7J.  a  day 
for  each  attendance  of  a  child,  the  balance  of  the  expenses  being  met  partly 
by  fees  (varying  from  ']d.  to  is.  a  day,  or  from  75.  6d.  to  95.  6d.  a  week) 
charged  to  the  mothers,  and  partly  by  contributions  from  the  local  origi- 
nators of  the  scheme. 

Where  night  shifts  are  worked,  the  munition  workers  may  claim  night 
accommodation  for  their  children;  arrangements  are  also  made  to  board 
the  infants  by  the  week.  In  the  schemes  approved  by  the  Ministry  it 
has  generally  been  found  possible  to  adapt  existing  buildings,  but  where  no 
suitable  accommodation  is  available  within  reasonable  distance  of  the 
mothers'  homes  a  new  building  is  erected. 

Such  a  nursery  has  been  erected  near  Woolwich  and  provides  a  useful 
model  for  this  country.  It  is  a  long  low  building  of  bungalow  type,  sur- 
rounded by  a  small  garden.  The  main  room,  the  babies'  parlour,  is  a 
long  apartment  enclosed  on  two  sides  by  a  verandah,  and  on  the  third, 
by  a  wide  passage  well  ventilated  at  each  end.  The  room  itself  is  full  of 
light  and  air,  there  is  plenty  of  play  room,  and  no  awkward  corners  to 
inflict  bruises  unawares.  A  lengthy  crawl  brings  a  baby-boarder  Into  the 
sunshine  of  the  verandah  and  the  safe  seclusion  of  its  play-pens,  and  a 
longer  crawl  and  a  hop  is  rewarded  by  entrance  Into  the  surrounding 
garden,  where  a  delectable  sand-pit  is  a  permanent  feature. 

Brightly-coloured  flowers  enliven  the  garden  in  spring  and  In  summer 
and  attract  bird  and  insect  visitors,  companions  often  more  interesting  to 
a  two-year-old  than  the  most  sprightly  of  humans.  Mattresses  occupy  part 
of  the  floor  space  of  the  nursery,  and  at  night-time  are  developed  Into 
full-fledged  beds.  At  one  end  of  the  room  are  cupboards  let  into  the  walls, 
at  the  other,  furniture  fashioned  for  the  needs  of  each  'two  feet  nothing'. 
There,  Instead  of  being  perched  on  a  high  chair  to  feed  with  giants  from 
an  elevated  table-land,  the  infant  visitor  sits  on  a  miniature  arm-chair 
at  a  table  brought  to  the  level  of  childhood.  The  low  tables  are,  in  fact, 
kidney-shaped  and  hollowed  on  the  Inside,  so  that  a  nurse,  or  attendant, 
seated  in  the  centre,  may  feed  half  a  dozen  children  in  turn.  The  toddler's 
dinner  in  this  retreat  recalls  the  feeding  time  In  a  nest.     A  smiling  nurse 


50  THE  WOMAN'S  PART 

in  the  centre  feeds,  turn  by  turn,  her  open-mouthed  charges  whose  satis- 
faction is  expressed  in  human  'coos'. 

Another  room  in  this  delightful  babies'  house  is  devoted  to  infants: 
a  brigade  in  cots,  of  which  the  advance-guard,  during  fine  weather,  invade 
the  verandah.  The  daintiness  of  the  room  with  its  blue  curtains  and  cot- 
hangings  and  the  chubby  satisfaction  of  the  cot-dwellers  must  be  a  constant 
inspiration  to  the  visiting  working  mothers^  Spotless  kitchens  for  the 
preparation  of  the  children's  meals  are  situated  in  the  rear  of  the  nurseries; 
there  is  also  an  isolation  room  where  suspect  infectious  cases  are  detained, 
and  a  laundry  with  an  indefatigable  laundress.  The  bathing  room,  fitted 
with  modern  appliances,  is  in  many  respects  excellent.  The  whole  estab- 
lishment is  warmed  by  a  central-heating  installation,  the  radiators  being 
well  protected  with  guards. 

It  may  not  always  be  possible,  through  lack  of  funds,  to  reproduce 
these  ideal  conditions,  but  where  the  accommodation  is  less  and  the  ground 
space  more  limited,  every  care  is  taken  that  the  factory  nursery  shall  have 
an  ample  provision  of  fresh  air.  Efforts  are  also  made  to  obtain  as  much 
local  support  as  possible. 

In  some  districts,  the  whole  of  the  clothing  provided  at  the  nursery 
is  made  by  the  little  girls  from  a  neighbouring  Elementary  School.  At 
Acton,  Middlesex,  for  example,  I  was  shown  piles  of  the  daintiest  little 
underwear,  diminutive  shoes  and  charming  cotton  frocks,  all  made  in  the 
sewing  classes  at  their  school,  by  pupils  of  eleven  to  thirteen  years  of  age. 
The  boys  of  the  local  manual  schools — not  to  be  outdone — contributed  to 
this  nursery  all  the  carpentry  for  the  cots  for  the  elder  babies.  These 
small  beds,  fashioned  out  of  hessian  cloth,  swung  on  long  broom  poles, 
with  a  wooden  board  at  head  and  foot,  seemed  of  a  particularly 
economical  and  practical  pattern. 

The  factory  nursery  is  certainly  gaining  popularity  as  a  war-time 
measure;  as  a  permanency  in  peace  times  it  is  recognized  that  there  are 
some  objections  to  its  establishment.  An  alternative  scheme,  even  in 
the  war  period,  is  being  mooted.  The  suggestion  is  made  that  babies 
should  be  'billeted',  or  boarded  out  in  the  munitions  area  amongst  women 
who  are  not  employed  outside  their  home.  Supervision  of  the  baby 
boarders,  it  is  thought,  might  be  undertaken  by  inspectors  under  the 
Local  Authority.  This  scheme  might,  it  is  true,  largely  prevent  the  congre- 
gation of  many  children  in  one  nursery  and  the  resultant  danger  of  the 
spread  of  contagious  infantile  disease.  On  the  other  hand,  the  proposal, 
if  accepted,  might  open  the  doors  to  overcrowding  in  thickly  populated 
areas  and  to  the  neglect  of  the  baby  boarder,  undetected  by  a  local  inspec- 


THE  WOMAN'S  PART  51 

torate,  already  overstrained  by  war-time  conditions.     The  scheme  is,  how- 
ever, only  at  the  discussion  stage,  as  I  write. 

In  any  case,  the  care  of  the  munition  workers'  children  is  attracting 
considerable  public  attention,  since  in  spite  of  the  war,  or  because  of  it, 
the  importance  of  the  health  and  well-being  of  the  ordinary  individual, 
and  more  especially  of  the  young,  is  becoming  part  of  the  creed  of  the 
average  citizen. 


CHAPTER  VII:   GROWTH  OF  THE  INDUSTRIAL  CANTEEN 

GENERAL  PRINCIPLES— THE  WORKER'S  OASIS 

MONEY  hardly  counts;  it  Is  labour  we  have  to  consider  nowadays', 
recently  remarked  the  managing  director  of  a  large  munitions 
works.  It  is  this  new  conception  that  has  given  impetus  to  the 
development  of  the  industrial  canteen,  now  a  feature  of  the  munitions 
factory.  In  the  opinion  of  Mr.  John  Hodge,  M.P.,  Minister  of  Pensions, 
who  since  the  war  has  acted  for  a  long  period  as  Minister  of  Labour, 
canteens  in  the  engineering  shops  were  'necessary  from  the  start',  and 
one  of  the  earliest  investigations  of  the  Health  of  Munition  Workers' 
Committee  was  on  the  subject  of  the  provision  of  employees'  meals.  The 
results  of  the  inquiry  are  embodied  in  three  valuable  White  Papers.^ 

I  have  since  been  into  many  canteens  connected  with  munitions  works, 
and  so  far  I  have  not  met  a  factory  manager  who  has  regretted  their 
introduction.  Yet,  only  three  or  four  years  ago,  the  average  employer 
would  have  told  you  that  a  dinner  brought  by  a  worker  in  a  newspaper, 
or  tied  up  in  a  red  handkerchief,  stored  in  the  works,  heated  anywhere, 
and  eaten  near  the  machines,  was  'quite  all  right':  and,  as  for  the  boys  in 
the  factory,  it  was  considered  shameful  to  'coddle  them';  if  necessary,  a 
factory  lad  should  'eat  his  dinner  on  a  clothes  line'. 

To-day,  when  the  utmost  ounce  of  energy  is  needed  from  man  and 
woman,  and  boy  and  girl,  wherever  munitions  production  is  concerned, 
it  is  recognized  that  the  quality  and  quantity  of  the  workers'  food  matters, 
and  that  even  the  surroundings  where  the  meal  is  partaken  of  counts  in 
the  conservation  of  the  essential  reserve  of  human  energy  and  power  of 
will.  Thus,  the  best  type  of  industrial  canteen  is  designed  not  only  'to 
feed  the  brute',  but  to  rest  his  mind.  This  is  especially  the  case  in 
certain  Filling  Factories,  where  immunity  from  ill-effects  from  the 
handling  of  T.N.T.  has  been  found  to  depend  largely  on  the  physical 
fitness  of  the  workers.  In  such  factories,  as  well  as  in  establishments 
where   women  are   employed  on  night  shifts,   the   provision   of  canteens 

^Health  of  Munition  JVotkcrs  Committee,  Memorandum  No.  3,  Report  on  Industrial  Can- 
teens (Cd.  8133)  ;  Memorandum  No.  6,  Appendix  to  Memorandum  No.  3,  Canteen  Construction 
and  Equipment  (Cd.  8199)  ;  Memorandum  No.  19,  Investigation  of  Workers'  Food  and  Sugges- 
tions as  to  Dietary:  Report  by  Leonard  E.  Hill,  M.B.,  F.R.S.   (Cd.  8798). 

52 


BALSMING   LENSES 


MAKING   INSTUUMEM'  SCALES 


THE  WOMAN'S  PART  53 

is  obligatory  on  employers  and,  indeed,  recent  legislation  (the  Police, 
Factories,  &c.  (Miscellaneous  Provisions)  Act,  1916)  has  empowered  the 
Home  Secretary  to  require  the  occupiers  of  workshops  and  factories  to 
make  arrangements,  where  necessary,  for  the  supply  of  meals  for  their 
employees.  In  the  stress  of  warfare,  when  the  demand  for  a  maximum 
output  is  necessarily  the  pre-occupation  of  the  factory  manager,  it  was, 
however,  recognized  that  the  canteen  must  be  State-aided.  A  Canteen 
Committee  was  therefore  appointed  under  the  Central  Control  Board 
(Liquor  Traffic).  The  work  of  this  committee  is  twofold:  it  aids  the 
factory  management  to  open  its  own  canteen  or  canteens,  and  it  supervises 
and  helps  approved  dining-rooms  managed  by  voluntary  bodies.  In  the 
first  case,  the  expense  for  any  necessary  canteen  is  entirely  borne  by  the 
Government,  if  the  factory  is  a  'National'  one.  In  Controlled  Establish- 
ments, the  employer  is  allowed  to  charge  the  cost  of  the  canteen  as  'a 
trade  expense',  a  concession  by  which  the  State  practically  bears  the  expense 
out  of  funds  which  would  otherwise  reach  the  Exchequer.  In  the  case  of 
canteens  provided  by  voluntary  bodies,  such  as  the  Young  Men's  Christian 
Association,  the  Young  Women's  Christian  Association,  the  Church 
Army,  the  Salvation  Army,  the  National  People's  Palace  Associa- 
tion, Ltd.,  &c.,  the  Board  pays  half  the  capital  expenditure,  where 
approved.^ 

The  efforts  of  these  voluntary  bodies  have  been  of  the  utmost  service, 
especially  at  the  outset  of  munitions  production  on  a  vast  scale,  when 
the  factory  proprietors,  or  directors,  were  unable  to  devote  even  a  fraction 
of  their  time  to  matters  not  obviously  connected  with  output.  The  devo- 
tion of  the  unpaid  workers  in  the  voluntary  canteen  has  through  the  tur- 
moil of  war  hardly  received  due  recognition,  but  it  is  no  less  than  that  of 
the  nurses  in  the  military  hospitals,  or  of  the  munitions  workers  them- 
selves. Women  of  aristocratic  families,  accustomed  to  personal  service 
from  a  large  staff  of  domestic  servants,  and  entirely  unused  to  physical 
labour,  as  well  as  women  hard-worked  in  their  own  homes  or  In  livelihood 
occupations,  have,  since  the  need  of  the  canteen  was  declared,  come,  by 
day  and  by  night,  to  undertake  the  arduous  duties  of  cooking  and  scrubbing 
for  vast  numbers  of  working-people.  Mr.  Punch' s  delightful  illustration, 
'War,  the  Leveller',  where  the  rough  scullery-maid  from  the  slums  is 
depicted  Issuing  the  emphatic  order  to  the  well-bred  marchioness,  'Nah 
then.  Lady  Montgummery  Wllberforce,  'urry  up  with  them  plates',-  Is  by 
no  means  a  fancy  picture  of  the  hither  side  of  canteen-life. 

In   one   factory,   substantial  meals  have   been   provided  daily  by    17 

^  A  Food  Section  of  the  Ministry  of  Munitions  has  since  been  established  to  carry  on  the 
work  of  the  Central  Control  Board  (Liquor  Traffic).  ^ Punch,  September  6,  1916. 


54  THE  WOINIAN'S  PART 

voluntary  assistants  for  some  1,200  workers;  in  another  locality,  the  food 
of  2,000  to  3,000  munitions  employees  has  been  arranged  by  23  volunteers; 
and  in  another  establishment,  6,000  workers  have  been  provided  with 
standing-up  refreshments  by  17  voluntary  helpers.  The  rapid  growth  of 
the  canteen  system  during  the  past  fifteen  months,  accompanied  by  the 
increasing  difficulties  of  catering  for  vast  numbers  under  war-time  con- 
ditions, has,  however,  led  to  the  transference  of  numbers  of  voluntary 
canteens  to  the  care  of  the  factory  management. 

General  Principles 

Industrial  canteens  differ  from  one  another  in  many  respects,  partly 
because  there  was  at  first  no  fund  of  common  experience  in  this  country 
from  which  to  draw,  and  partly  because  hours  of  work,  tastes  and  customs 
in  industrial  areas  vary  considerably.  Hence,  methods  of  administration 
and  catering,  found  possible  or  popular  in  one  canteen,  are  sometimes  a 
complete  failure  when  tried  in  other  districts.  In  one  canteen,  with  a 
seating  capacity  for  2,000  women,  I  found  that  three  gallons  of  pickles 
were  sold  In  pennyworths  daily;  In  another  district,  the  popular  taste  ran 
in  the  direction  of  jam  tarts.  Yet,  even  with  the  small  store  of  experience 
so  far  accumulated,  certain  general  principles  at  least  as  regards  site, 
construction,  equipment,  and  administration  of  the  canteen  have  been 
evolved.  For  Instance,  as  regards  site,  a  gloomy  dining-room  is  never 
popular.  If  possible,  a  garden  outlook  should  be  arranged,  and  at  the 
least,  the  canteen  walls  should  be  of  a  restful  colour.  It  seems  obvious 
that  if  pictures  are  Introduced,  they  should  be  varied  and  bright,  yet  I 
have  seen  one  canteen  of  which  the  walls  were  covered  at  intervals  with 
reproductions  of  the  same  uninteresting  print. 

Another  obvious  point,  too  often  neglected.  Is  the  insurance  of  good 
ventilation  In  canteen  and  kitchen.  The  dining-room  should,  if  possible, 
provide  separate  accommodation  for  men  and  women,  and  should  have 
a  buffet-bar  and  serving-counter  with  separate  hatchments  for  different 
items  of  the  menu.  Again,  It  is  a  matter  of  common  consent  that  the 
'ticket  system'  of  payment  for  the  food  handed  over  the  counter  is  the 
best.  Ticket-offices,  where  the  'checks'  are  obtainable  for  cash,  should 
ibe  carefully  placed  with  regard  to  entrance  doors,  serving-counters  and 
dinlng-tables,  so  that  the  minimum  time  Is  expended  in  preliminaries  by 
a  clientele  who  has  but  a  strict  dinner-hour  at  its  disposal.  In  a  well- 
organized  canteen  I  have  seen  over  a  thousand  workers  seated  and  served 
within  ten  minutes  of  the  announcement  of  the  dinner-hour  within  the 
factory  shops. 


THE  WOMAN'S  PART  55 

In  the  larger  canteens,  developments,  as  may  be  expected,  run  chiefly 
along  the  lines  of  labour-saving  appliances.  Electric  washing-up  machines, 
electric  bacon-cutters,  as  well  as  electric  bread-cutters,  tea-measuring  ma- 
chines, counter  hot-closets  for  warming  food  brought  by  employees  may 
now  be  seen  in  many  kitchens  where  the  needs  of  thousands  of  diners  must 
be  considered. 

But  it  is  perhaps  in  the  smaller  concerns  that  the  development  of  the 
industrial  canteen  is  most  assured.  Experiments  can  there  be  more  easily 
tried,  and  if  necessary,  discarded,  where  the  customers  are  counted  by 
hundreds,  rather  than  by  thousands.  From  a  tour  of  canteens,  I  select 
a  couple  of  such  instances.  The  other  day  I  happened,  during  the  dinner- 
hour,  to  be  in  a  new  munitions  factory  concerned  with  the  production 
of  magnetos,  aero-engines,  electric  switches,  and  so  on,  work  undertaken 
by  men  and  women,  boys  and  girls.  The  manager  of  this  works  has 
studied  the  labour  question  up  and  down  the  country,  and  has  set  down 
his  conclusions,  not  on  minute  sheets,  but  in  the  bricks  and  mortar  of  new 
buildings,  in  green  lawns  and  flower  beds  bright  with  colour,  and  in  allot- 
ments round  his  shops. 

The  Worker  s  Oasis 

The  canteen  Is  a  feature  of  the  place.  It  stands  apart  from  the  factory, 
a  long  low  building,  one  side  looking  on  to  a  tennis  court  and  the  other 
on  to  homely  but  delightful  vegetable  plots.  The  workers'  dining-room 
is  divided  down  the  centre:  one  side  for  the  men,  the  other  for  the  women. 
A  serving-table,  but  no  partition-wall,  separates  it  from  the  kitchen,  which, 
in  its  turn,  is  divided  by  further  serving-tables  from  mess-rooms  for  the 
engineers  and  staff  employees.  The  kitchen,  in  reality  a  series  of  ovens, 
stoves,  and  steamers,  is  a  revelation  of  labour-saving  appliances,  heated  by 
electricity.  On  the  day  of  my  visit  there  was  not  the  slightest  odour  of 
cooking  from  these  various  utensils,  although  hot  meals  for  some  250 
persons  were  in  preparation. 

The  factory  hooter  'buzzed'.  The  dinner  hour,  the  workers'  oasis, 
had  arrived,  yet  there  was  no  clatter  of  dishes,  or  bustle  of  serving-maids, 
in  the  canteens.  An  atmosphere  of  repose  was  as  manifest  as  in  a  well- 
appointed  reception-room  of  some  stately  English  home.  The  workers 
evidently  react  to  these  conditions,  and  standing  at  the  back  of  the  kitchen 
I  was  quite  unaware  of  the  diner's  entry.  'When  do  the  people  come 
in?"  I  asked  from  my  shelter  behind  a  huge  steamer  where  puddings  were 
rising  to  the  occasion.  'A  hundred  men  are  already  seated  and  served', 
was  the  amazing  reply.  They  had  entered  through  a  side  door  leading 
out  of  the  garden,  had  there  purchased  a  'check'  for  the  value  of  the 


56  THE  WOMAN'S  PART 

dinner  required,  and  presenting  the  'check'  at  the  serving-counter,  had 
received  their  portion,  piping  hot  from  the  hot  shelves  fitted  beneath. 

Picking  up  the  necessary  cutlery  from  an  adjoining  table,  the  customers 
had  seated  themselves  at  any  special  small  marble-topped  table  of  their 
fancy.  AVaitresses,  some  voluntary  workers  garbed  in  rose-coloured  over- 
alls and  mob-caps,  and  some  staff  employees  in  white  or  blue  uniforms, 
moved  about  amongst  the  tables,  supplying  small  wants.  Through  the 
open  windows  floated  the  scent  of  hay  and  flowers;  it  seemed  almost 
ludicrous  to  connect  the  scene  with  war  and  the  manufacture  of  its  engines 
of  destruction.  The  quality  of  the  food  was  excellent  and  the  variety 
great.  A  dinner  hour  spent  in  such  a  canteen  is  a  refreshment  to  both  body 
and  soul  of  the  employees. 

In  another  instance,  the  firm  have  handed  over  the  canteen  and  its 
management  to  a  workers'  committee  upon  which  the  managing  director 
also  sits.  I  noticed  in  this  canteen  various  devices  worthy  of  imitation, 
where  catering  is  undertaken  for  large  numbers.  The  method  adopted, 
for  example,  of  dividing  the  serving-counter  into  hatchments  for  the  various 
items  on  the  menu,  and  separating  by  rails  the  floor-space  in  front  of 
each  compartment,  seems  to  economize  both  the  time  and  patience  of  the 
customers.  The  note  of  economy  with  efliciency  is  emphasized  in  this,  as 
in  many  canteens,  and  I  was  shown  with  pride  some  'little  brothers'  on 
an  adjoining  piece  of  land — pigs  that  were  fattening  on  the  canteen 
'waste'. 

These  developments,  started  in  munitions  areas  during  the  urgency 
of  warfare,  will,  without  doubt,  have  permanent  importance  in  the  days 
of  peace,  and  it  is  probable  that  the  munition  workers'  canteen,  doubtingly 
adopted  by  employers  some  two  years  ago,  is  symptomatic  of  a  revolution 
in  the  home  life  of  the  industrial  worker,  as  well  as  of  new  methods  of 
economy  in  the  national  supply  of  fuel  and  food. 


•  CHAPTER  VIII:  HOUSING 

BILLETING— TEMPORARY  ACCOMMODATION— PERMANENT  ACCOMMODATION 

OF  the  indirect  problems  arising  from  a  prolific  output  of  munitions 
the  most  acute  has  undoubtedly  been  the  affair  of  the  housing 
of  the  workers.  The  opening  of  a  new  factory,  or  the  conversion 
of  existing  works  to  the  needs  of  the  State,  often  involve  the  transference 
of  thousands  of  workers,  and  in  some  cases  the  districts  to  which  the 
stream  of  immigration  is  directed  are  already  congested,  and  already  suf- 
fering from  inadequate  housing  accommodation. 

In  one  town  in  the  North,  for  example,  the  population  has  since  19 14 
increased  by  Immigration  from  16,000  to  35,000;  In  another  town,  where 
the  1911  census  showed  a  population  of  107,821,  an  unexaggerated  esti- 
mate gives  the  figure  for  the  end  of  19 17  as  120,000;  in  other  munition 
areas  a  similar  inflation  of  population  has  taken  place.  The  housing  prob- 
lem has  been  further  complicated  by  the  almost  total  prohibition  of  building 
during  the  war  period,  save  for  Government  purposes. 

The  effect  of  these  conditions  in  the  early  days  of  the  war  was,  as  may 
be  Imagined,  highly  unsatisfactory  to  the  residents  in  certain  munition 
areas,  as  well  as  to  the  immigrant  work-people.  Overcrowding  became 
rife;  lodgers  were  at  the  mercy  of  unscrupulous  landladies,  and  all  the 
evils  associated  with  bad  housing  conditions  began  to  make  their  appear- 
ance. Then  the  Ministry  of  Munitions  came  to  grips  with  the  question, 
and  although  it  remains  a  thorny  subject,  the  activities  of  the  Department 
may  be  fairly  said  to  have  accomplished  a  miracle  In  some  areas  in  the 
housing  of  the  munition  workers. 

The  Infinite  variety  of  local  conditions,  as  well  as  the  humanness  of 
the  workers,  obviously  complicate  the  matter,  and  while  It  has  been  found 
possible  to  synthesize  the  factory  system  of  a  given  area,  no  stereotyped 
regulations  can  conceivably  be  produced  to  cover  the  accommodation  of 
its  employees.  The  problem  is  therefore  attacked  piece-meal,  each  local 
proposition  being  decided  on  its  own  merits.  A  broad  guiding  principle 
has,  however,  been  educed  wherever  the  housing  situation  occasioned  by 
the  output  of  munitions  demands  State  Intervention.  In  the  first  place, 
it  Is  decided  whether  the  needed  accommodation  can  be  met  in  part,  or 

57 


58  THE  WOMAN'S  PART 

altogether,  by  existing  houses — a  system  now  sanctioned  by  the  Billeting 
Act  of  May  1 91 7.  Secondly,  when  it  Is  found  necessary  to  provide  fur- 
ther housing  room,  consideration  is  given  as  to  whether  new  buildings 
shall  be  of  a  temporary  or  of  a  permanent  type. 

Billeting 

Chronologically,  an  authorized  system  of  billeting  munition  workers 
has  been  the  latest  development  in  the  State  housing  schemes,  but  even 
in  the  early  days  of  the  war  this  arrangement  existed  in  embryo.  Local 
committees  were  then  appointed  which,  with  the  aid  of  the  Employment 
Bureaux,  compiled  lists  of  suitable  lodgings  for  immigrant  women  work- 
ers. From  the  earliest  war  period,  too,  provision  was  made  to  meet  young 
women  new-comers  at  railway  stations  and  to  place  them,  if  necessary,  in 
temporary  unimpeachable  lodgings,  until  permanent  accommodation  was 
available.  This  scheme  has  now  developed  into  the  regularized  activities 
of  a  Billeting  Board  (established  August  1917),  working  under  powers 
given  by  the  Billeting  Act.  Under  this  enactment,  compulsory  billeting 
is  provided  for,  but  in  practice  is  not  adopted,  sufficient  facilities  having 
so  far  been  forthcoming  from  voluntary  sources. 

The  Billeting  Board  works  in  hearty  co-operation  with  local  authori- 
ties and  individuals,  and  has  met  with  extraordinary  success.  In  the  first 
instance,  two  executive  members  of  the  Board  proceed  to  a  congested 
munitions  area  and,  with  local  aid,  institute  an  inquiry  as  to  whether  bil- 
leting can  be  successfully  carried  out.  In  such  areas  as  the  Clyde,  or 
Woolwich,  billeting  would,  for  example,  be  out  of  the  question,  but  in 
other  localities,  such  as  Barrow  and  Hereford,  where  public  opinion  ran 
that  there  was  no  further  accommodation  even  for  a  stray  cat,  the  Board 
has  yet  found  suitable  billets  for  900  persons  in  Barrow  and  1,200  in 
Hereford. 

The  question  of  transit,  it  is  true,  is  Intimately  connected  with  the 
housing  problem,  and  through  the  action  of  the  Billeting  Board  It  has 
In  many  cases  been  possible  to  remove  difficulties  of  locomotion,  and  hence 
to  bring  further  accommodation  within  reach  of  the  factories.  The  Board 
has  also  been  enabled  to  form  local  committees  on  which  sit  representatives 
of  each  housing  interest  (e.  g.  landlady,  locality,  lodger),  and  it  has 
authority  to  recover  rent  from  defaulting  tenants. 

These,  and  other  powers,  have  resulted  in  throwing  many  additional 
apartments  on  to  the  market.  Yet  difficulties  remain  in  the  administration 
of  the  Act  In  that  the  industrial  workers  are  under  no  discipline  such  as 
that  applied  to  soldiers,  and  there  is  no  local  authority  to  compel  a  muni- 


THE  WOMAN'S  PART  59 

tions  worker  either  to  go  into  a  given  billet,  or  to  remain  there  when 
placed.  The  goodwill  of  the  locality  and  of  the  employees  has,  however, 
been  so  great  that  the  system  works  smoothly,  and  from  August  19 17  to 
December  31,  1917,  3,000  to  5,000  munition  workers  have  been  placed 
in  existing  houses.  In  a  congested  district  where  lodging  accommodation 
is  exhausted,  the  Billeting  Board  reports  on  the  need  for  further  houses, 
and  at  such  centres  as  Barrow  and  Lincoln  new  houses  are  now  being 
erected  on  their  recommendation. 

Temporary  Accommodation 

Excluding  the  utilization  of  local  lodgings  and  the  adaptation  of  exist- 
ing buildings  such  as  Poor-Law  structures,  Elementary  Schools,  charitable 
institutions,  three  distinct  types  of  provisional  accommodation  for  munition 
workers  have  made  their  appearance:  temporary  cottages,  hostels,  and 
colonies.  The  temporary  cottage  corresponds  fairly  closely  to  the  ordi- 
nary type  of  permanent  industrial  cottage,  save  that  the  former  is  built  of 
wood  or  concrete  and  is  usually  one  story  instead  of  two;  it  contains 
three  to  five  rooms,  and  is  rented  on  the  basis  of  about  55.  6d.  to  75.  6d. 
per  week  for  a  three-roomed  abode. 

Generally  speaking,  these  rooms  are  allocated  to  married  rather  than 
to  single  women;  sometimes  the  wife,  as  well  as  the  husband,  works  in 
the  neighbouring  factory,  but  more  usually  the  wife,  housed  in  the  tem- 
porary cottage,  remains  at  home,  housekeeping  for  the  man  worker.  The 
unmarried  girls  and  women  workers  in  crowded  districts  are  generally 
accommodated  in  hostels,  or  in  colonies,  the  term  used  for  a  group  of 
hostels.  The  hostel,  which  is  designed  to  accommodate  from  30  to  100 
persons,  is  provided  with  its  own  kitchen,  dining-room,  and  common-room, 
and  to  a  certain  extent  life  therein  approximates  to  that  of  a  large  family. 

The  Colony,  or  group  of  hostels,  has  been  found  convenient  where 
a  large  number  of  women  must  be  housed.  Each  hostel,  or  hutment,  in 
the  group  is  arranged  for  the  sleeping  accommodation  of  100-130  persons, 
the  dormitories  being  divided  into  cubicles  (some  single,  some  double), 
accommodation  for  bath-rooms  being  always  made  in  these  dormitory 
blocks.  Under  the  Colony  system,  meals  are  usually  partaken  of  in  a 
separate  building  or  buildings.  The  residents  from  all  the  hutments  also 
meet  in  the  recreation-room  and  in  the  laundry,  common  to  all. 

Experience,  however,  teaches  that  each  hostel  should  have  its  own 
common  room  and  that  a  Colony  should  not  shelter  very  large  numbers. 
About  500  girls,  in  five  hostels,  seems  to  be  the  ideal  number  for  effective 
home-making,  yet  we  have  large  housing  schemes  for  the  accommodation 


60  THE  WOMAN'S  PART 

of  many  thousands  which  are  at  present  answering  their  purpose  as  a  war- 
time measure.  For  the  management  of  the  ""Colony  an  exceptionally 
capable  lady  superintendent  is  needed,  into  whose  hands  usually  falls  the 
selection  of  the  hutment  matrons  and  their  staffs,  as  well  as  the  canteen 
managers  and  their  subordinates.  In  the  most  developed  Colonies  a  recre- 
ation officer  is  often  appointed. 

I  recall  a  visit  to  one  of  the  largest  Colonies  for  munition  workers  in 
the  Midlands.  The  scheme  embraces  the  housing  and  feeding  of  some 
6,000  women,  drawn  from  every  part  of  the  United  Kingdom,  indeed, 
possibly  from  every  corner  of  the  Empire.  The  staff,  in  all,  comprises 
some  300  persons.  Perfect  harmony  reigned,  and  the  girls  seemed  thor- 
oughly at  home  in  their  novel  surroundings.  Each  girl  can  claim  a  sepa- 
rate cubicle,  which  is  divided  from  the  adjoining  compartment  by  a  wall 
and  door.  Here  and  there,  indeed,  the  arrangement  was  varied  and  two 
friends — terrified  at  sleeping  alone — had  secured  permission  to  pool  their 
bedrooms  and  to  arrange  a  double  sleeping-room  and  dressing-room. 

The  cubicle  system  is,  notwithstanding,  much  appreciated  by  the 
woman,  who,  working  in  company  of  hundreds  of  her  fellows,  and  sharing 
perhaps  a  common  life  for  the  first  time,  rejoices  in  the  possession  of  some 
spot  in  which  to  express  her  inner  self.  In  some  cubicles  in  that  Colony 
a  desire  for  beauty  asserted  itself  and  the  walls  were  gay  with  prints  from 
illustrated  papers;  in  others,  dainty  coloured  curtains  had  been  introduced 
and  the  locker  was  covered  with  a  cloth  to  match.  In  another  room, 
the  owner  had  evidently  a  taste  for  embroidery,  and  all  the  toilet  acces- 
sories bore  this  feminine  touch.  But,  generally  speaking,  the  chief  feature 
I  noticed  in  that,  as  well  as  in  other  Colonies  where  the  cubicle  system 
prevails,  was  the  cleanliness  and  order  of  the  apartments.  A  taste 
for  purity  is  infectious,  and  it  is  unlikely  that  girls,  having  once  come 
under  an  influence  that  induces  them  to  leave  their  sleeping  apartment 
immaculate  before  going  to  work  before  dawn,  will  ever  again  tolerate 
slum  conditions. 

The  many  problems  involved  in  the  housing  of  these  girls  of  various 
types  are  indeed  almost  lost  sight  of  by  the  visitor,  but,  as  a  lady  superin- 
tendent once  reminded  me,  there  are  difficulties  inherent  in  the  job.  Some 
girls  will  arrive  with  uncleanly  habits,  even  when  the  medical  officer  has 
sorted  out  those  unclean  in  person;  others  will,  at  first,  show  signs  of 
violent  antipathies  and  strange  fears,  and  there  is  always  the  need  for 
upholding  an  atmosphere  of  religious  and  racial  toleration.  In  the  Mid- 
lands Colony  a  system  has  been  adopted  of  placing  the  bedrooms  of  girls 
from  one  part  of  the  United  Kingdom  in  the  same  corridor,  the  Irish  in 
one  wing,  the  Scotch  in  another,  and  so  on,  but  in  the  other  parts  of  the 


PAINTING  A  SHIP  S  SIDE  IN  DRY  DOCK 


GENERAL  VIEW  OF  WOMEN  AT  WORK  ON  AIRCRAFT  FABRIC 


THE  CANTEEN 


THE  WOMAN'S  PART  61 

country  I  have  found  perfect  harmony  where  such  classification  is  not 
observed. 

The  feeding  of  the  hostel  residents  presents  its  own  difficulties,  espe- 
cially in  these  days  of  v/ar.  In  some  hostels  and  colonies,  such  as  the  one 
in  the  Midlands,  the  residents  take  their  meals  in  their  own  canteen;  it 
being  possible  to  supply  the  needs  of  a  shift  in  the  interval  from  work. 
In  other  hostels,  arrangements  are  made  by  which  meals  can  be  had  either 
at  the  hostel  or  the  factory  canteen. 

In  these  days  of  fluctuating  food  prices,  it  is  difficult  to  indicate  the 
cost  of  up-keep  of  a  munition-workers'  hostel,  but,  in  general,  it  has  not 
been  found  practicable  to  put  the  hostel  on  an  entirely  self-supporting 
basis.  This  is  especially  the  case  in  the  Government  establishments,  where 
the  return  on  expended  capital  is  at  present  only  sought  in  increased 
munitions  output. 

Permanent  Accommodation 

At  first  sight,  the  provision  of  temporary  accommodation  alone  may 
appear  the  obvious  method  for  the  housing  of  munition  workers.  Cheaper 
and  more  rapid  construction  is  obtainable  by  this  method,  and  existing 
buildings  may  be  adapted.  But  if,  in  an  area  of  pre-war  housing  shortage, 
there  is  good  prospect  of  permanent  manufacturing  activity,  it  is  more 
often  decided  that  permanent,  rather  than  temporary,  structures  are  pro- 
vided. 

It  may  be  of  interest  to  note  the  methods  that  have  been  adopted  by 
the  State  in  the  provision  of  permanent  accommodation.  These  may  be 
detailed  under  four  heads : 

1.  In  a  certain  number  of  cases  loans  have  been  made  to  Public  Utility 
Societies  for  the  construction  of  dwellings  for  munition  workers.  Such 
loans  are  conditioned  after  the  manner  already  made  familiar  to  the  public 
by  Garden  Suburb  and  other  Associations. 

2.  Loans  have  been  made  directly  to  certain  individual  firms  to  enable 
them  to  house  their  immigrant  employees.  These  loans  have  been  issued 
at  the  current  rate  of  interest — usually  5  per  cent. — and  run,  generally 
speaking,  for  a  period  of  forty  years. 

3.  In  a  few  exceptional  cases,  certain  private  firms — now  Controlled 
Establishments — are  permitted  to  charge  a  part  of  the  increase  on  the  cost 
of  building  (due  to  war  conditions)  to  that  portion  of  the  firm's  profits 
which  would  otherwise  have  gone  to  the  Exchequer. 

4.  A  contribution  is,  in  some  instances,  made  by  the  State  to  certain 
local  authorities  of  a  part  of  the  capital  cost  of  building.  In  all  cases  this 
contribution  is  less  than  the  estimated  increase  due  to  war  conditions. 


62  THE  WOMAX'S  PART 

The  type  of  permanent  building  erected  by  such  means  is  that  which 
characterizes  many  of  our  newer  industrial  districts,  namely  a  two-story 
brick  cottage,  containing  two  or  three  bedrooms,  a  liv^ing-room  and  a 
kitchen,  a  bath,  in  some  cases  a  bath-room.  Sometimes  a  complete  village 
or  township  has  arisen,  as  it  were  from  the  earth,  to  shelter  the  working 
population  who  have  so  willingly  left  their  homes  to  further  the  common 
cause  by  land  and  sea.  In  another  instance,  a  large  National  factory  has 
been  erected  on  an  isolated  waste  in  the  North  country.  The  workers 
come  from  long  distances,  and  not  only  need  accommodation,  but  some 
reasonable  provision  for  recreation  and  the  amenities  of  life. 

Beyond  the  great  high  road  sweeping  on  to  Scotland,  some  one-  or  two- 
roomed  cottages,  a  village  shop  or  two,  and  a  few  more  imposing  resi- 
dences there  was,  in  June  191 5,  nothing  but  bogland  in  the  immediate 
neighbourhood  of  the  site  of  this  new  factory.  The  landscape  presented  a 
view  of  coarse  grass  and  brackish  water;  beyond  that,  beach  and  sea,  and 
a  horizon  bounded  by  rugged  mountains,  capped  In  winter  by  snow.  It 
needed  courage,  as  well  as  genius,  to  undertake  the  transformation  of  such 
a  desolate  waste  into  surroundings  which  should  offer  a  lure  to  industrial 
workers.  But  the  work  has  been  done  In  silence,  quickly  as  well  as  effi- 
ciently, with  imagination,  as  well  as  thoroughness,  and  with  an  eye  to  the 
future  destiny  of  the  place. 

By  July  1915,  the  first  huts  were  occupied,  and  by  December  1917, 
when  I  was  a  privileged  visitor,  there  had  arisen  a  thriving  busy  township 
and  a  village  some  five  miles  beyond.  Excellent  railway  communication 
between  township,  village,  and  factory  has  been  established,  many  good 
roads  have  been  built,  there  are  permanent  cottages,  churches,  a  school, 
shops,  a  staff  club,  an  institute,  a  large  entertainment  hall,  a  cinema  house, 
and  a  central  kitchen,  providing  cooked  meals  for  all  the  workers  in  the 
factories,  and  raw  food-stuff  for  hostels  and  huts.  Little  gardens  sur- 
round the  houses  big  and  small,  temporary  or  permanent,  and  allotments 
are  In  great  request,  and  there  Is  also  provision  for  outdoor  recreation, 
such  as  bowls,  tennis,  cricket,  &c.  The  permanent  brick  cottages  are  built 
in  blocks  of  twelve,  which  are  now  thrown  together  to  form  a  hostel.  The 
construction  is  so  planned  that  ultimately  these  cottages  can  be  re-sepa- 
rated for  family  use. 

There  is  housing  accommodation  for  over  6,000  women  operators, 
which  was  practically  all  In  use.  The  task  of  supervising  the  home  con- 
ditions of  this  army  of  women  falls  into  the  hands  of  a  lady  Welfare 
Superintendent,  who  keeps  all  the  complicated  machinery  of  hostels,  huts, 
and  lodgings  in  running  order.  The  possibilities  in  the  housing  of  indus- 
trial women  away  from  their  own  homes  have,  I  believe,  never  been  so 


THE  WOMAN'S  PART  63 

clearly  demonstrated  as  In  this  town  on  the  marshes.  The  lady  superin- 
tendent who  has  pioneered  this  movement  is  of  the  opinion  that  its  success  is 
bound  up  with  the  fact  that  the  hostels  are  limited  to  the  accommodation 
of  from  70  to  100  girls  in  each.  Other  key-notes  to  the  prevailing  happi- 
ness of  the  women  residents  are,  I  gathered,  that  a  minimum  number  of 
rules  are  enforced  and  that  the  women  are  treated  as  responsible  human 
beings.  The  elder  women  are  often  housed  in  bungalows  under  the  care 
of  a  housekeeper-cook,  and  they  greatly  enjoy  the  greater  independence 
and  the  appeal  to  their  individuality  possible  in  such  surroundings. 

The  hostels,  at  the  time  of  my  visit,  were  in  most  hospitable  mood. 
It  was  the  eve  of  Christmas,  and  festivities,  tempered  to  war-time  needs, 
were  the  order  of  the  day.  The  sound  of  a  piano  and  singing  outside  a 
certain  hostel  suggested  a  frolic  within.  We  entered,  the  lady  superin- 
tendent and  myself.  The  lower  floor  had  been  converted  into  reception- 
rooms  and  supper  was  laid  out  on  tables  decorated  with  spoils  from  the 
hedge.  Gleaming  red  berries  and  glistening  holly-leaves  were  on  walls 
and  brackets  and  here  and  there  a  sprig  of  mistletoe  placed  in  suitable 
places  for  'auld  lang  syne'.  There  were  present  young  men,  as  well  as 
girls,  and  a  lively  game,  'the  Duke  of  York',  was  in  progress. 

Suddenly  the  singing  and  accompaniment  came  to  a  sudden  halt  and 
the  whole  of  the  company  trouped  in  from  adjoining  rooms.  A  young 
girl  came  forward.  'We  wish  to  take  this  opportunity',  she  said,  'of  thank- 
ing our  matron  and  our  secretary  for  the  most  happy  time  we  have 
had  under  this  roof.  We  do  it  now  because  we  hope  not  to  be  here  next 
year,  but  instead  to  be  welcoming  our  boys  home  from  the  Front'.  It  was  a 
simple,  spontaneous  expression  of  the  general  emotion  of  the  hostel  resi- 
dents in  that  area. 

Everywhere  I  found  a  similar  joy  of  life  among  the  workers:  in  the 
Institute  clubs,  where  both  girls  and  men  were  reading,  studying,  singing, 
and  dancing;  in  the  cinema  hall,  where  the  ever-popular  'movies'  were 
taking  place;  and  in  the  big  recreation  hall,  where  a  weekly  'social'  was 
being  held.  There,  two  girls  provided  the  band,  to  which  other  girls 
danced  with  girls,  or  with  men  in  khaki,  or  with  factory  workers  in  civilian 
dress.  There  was  a  healthy  comradeship  between  girls  and  men  and,  when 
the  hour  of  parting  came  there  were  leave-takings  of  which  no  one  could 
be  ashamed.  Laughter  and  jollity  in  plenty,  and  snatches  of  song  up  and 
down  the  darkened  streets,  as  group  after  group  found  its  way  home,  but 
self-respect  and  dignity  noticeably  present. 

In  a  new  town,  emerging  during  the  hurry  and  bustle  of  the  war, 
amongst  new  occupations,  at  which  women  needs  must  wear  a  masculine 
costume,  we  have  at  least  accomplished  this:  that  the  spirit  of  home-life, 


64  THE  WOMAN'S  PART 

of  joy,  and  of  love  has  not  been  discouraged:  rather  has  It  been  fostered, 
or  rekindled,  in  these  unaccustomed  homes  provided  by  the  State.  Indeed, 
many  of  the  girls  passing  through  this  strange  war-time  adventure  have 
assuredly  gained  by  their  pilgrimage  precisely  in  those  qualities  most 
needed  by  the  wives  and  mothers  of  the  rising  generation. 

It  was  an  inspiring  glimpse  into  a  new  industrial  world,  a  portent, 
maybe,  of  the  time  to  come.     The  words  of  a  golden  sonnet  welled  up: 

Then  felt  I  like  some  watcher  of  the  skies 

When  a  new  planet  swims  into  his  ken ; 
Or  like  stout  Cortez  when,  with  eagle  eyes, 

He  stared  at  the  Pacific — and  all  his  men 
Looked  at  each  other  with  a  wild  surmise — 

Silent,  upon  a  peak  in  Darien. 


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nipnui.AT"^^ 


DEC  011990 


DEC     6  1990  m 


MtFfiT/ 


AiJTO  i,i. 


tR  13  19m 


AyiODlS(;FEBi:5'91 


'JAN16  20C0 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA,  BERKELEY 

FORM  NO.  DD6  BERKELEY,  CA  94720 

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YD  23534 


U.C.  BERKELEY  LIBRARIES 


CD0S271S33 


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383211 

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UNIVERSITY  OF  CAUFORNIA  LIBRARY 

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